The Old-School Gadget Making A Quiet Comeback In American Homes

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Before we picked up calls from our pockets or our earbuds, entire families were put on edge by the raucous ringing of the telephone. Kids everywhere were haunted by the realization they might have to pick up the receiver and route the call to the right family member.

In spite of these inconveniences, old-fashioned phones are once again ringing across the country, and there are good reasons for the landline resurgence.

The wall-mounted, hardwired communication method has unique benefits we’ve lost in the smartphone era. The main reason behind the revival is that parents are increasingly skeptical of handing their children a portal to the wide-open internet in the palm of their hand.

A company called TinCan has created a beautiful device that allows your children to talk to their friends directly from your house. It only lets you make calls to approved contacts during certain times using home internet. The idea is that you put their device in a public spot in the house and they can talk to their friends as they please. TinCan is so popular its services crashed this Christmas as kids around the country tried making calls to their friends.

It’s becoming more popular, especially as advocates and scholars raise concerns about the effects of smartphone usage on children and teens. New York Magazine’s editors said they’d bought it for their kids and tested it out to much praise. The cutesy pastel colors and retro designs TinCan offers are great, but the parental controls may be limiting for the entire family or for older kids. And it’s not going to help if there’s an emergency in the middle of the night.

I’ve seen self-described millennial users on Reddit say they’re adding phone lines to their house. I get it. I’ve wanted a landline myself because my parents have had one for as long as I can remember. For years, that number was saved as “Home” in my contacts. That’s one of the biggest perks about a landline: It brings a sense of landing with it. You know that if someone is home, awake, and able, they’ll pick up. Unless they’re already talking with someone. Then they’ll call back.

When we finally purchased a landline, it was way more entertaining than I expected. It’s fun to see my girls pick up the phone and talk to their grandparents. It’s also handy to be able to call your cell phone when it’s lost.

When I was a kid, I dreaded getting the phone. You never know who was going to be on the other side. When my parents got caller ID, it was even more annoying because you knew who it was and you’d have to make pleasantries with them in the time between answering and handing the phone to mom or dad.

But without a landline, kids aren’t likely to get the experience of navigating these awkward moments, learning how to hold a stranger’s attention for a few seconds with small talk. You need these skills in the professional world. As an intern, I screened calls for a morning talk radio show. I answered five or six dozen phone calls a day every day of the week, from 5 to 9 a.m. I learned there that landlines are preferred for radio interviews because of their superior clarity; you don’t cut out or have dead zones when you’re connected to the telephone wire the way Alexander Graham Bell intended.

Now this might not be in the budget for everyone. My internet provider wanted something like $60 a month on top of the $80 internet bill I already pay. If you’re made of money or just really crave that physical wire servicing your house, go for it. The rest of us are likely to get something called a “voice over Internet Protocol,” which allows you to run your telephone over your home internet. This is essentially what TinCan uses. Providers like Ooma offer this service for free if you buy their device (you just have to pay taxes and service fees). There is a host of these services to choose from, so feel free to take your pick.

Another option is a home base. It’s basically a cell-powered home phone line. You just plug your analog phone in the back and voilà — you’re ready to roll. I like that it doesn’t require the internet to run, which is a great option when you want your lines of communication to be open when a storm takes everything else out.

In a world that’s increasingly disconnected, landlines show it’s possible to reverse the trend. You can stay connected without being distracted or risk exposing your children to the internet. And it’s wonderful to hear a telephone ring. It’s even more wonderful to hear my children running and trying to answer it first. There’s security in knowing I can call when I’m out to ask if we need more milk and that our families can reach us in the night. Landlines are a number you can always use to call home.

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Brendan Clarey is deputy editor of Michigan Enjoyer. He scours the Mitten State for stories and sweet treats with his wife and three kids in their Honda Odyssey.