Landline Phones Have a Place at Home

America’s younger generation has a thing for analog and nostalgia, but there’s more to this movement than cool, vintage tech. Landline kids is a movement to help kids be kids again and slow the introduction to some of the harmful aspects of smartphones.

Mental health professional and movement leader Caron Morse discusses her journey and shares tips on the best way to add the regular use of a landline phone to your home. Oh, and it’s not just for kids.

Highlights:

Highlights of the interview are included for convenient listening.

• Inspiration for landline phone movement (0:00)
• Youth appreciation for analog technology (3:52)
• The angle of mental health on youth (5:08)
• The bridge role of old tech (7:14)
• The origin of Landline Kids (10:04)
• Tips on when to get a landline phone (13:50)
• Payphones are still around, pushback about landlines (15:34)
• First steps to making the landline phone work (18:43)
• Taking the home back from dominant tech (20:10)
• Landlinekids.org, community and connection (22:28)

Re/sources:

• Landlines in 2026? Why They’re an Underrated Lifeline – CNET
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Study Links Smartphone Ownership in Childhood to Increased Risk of Depression and Obesity in Youth | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Gen Z is engineering an analog future — and it’s at least a $5 billion opportunity | Fortune
• An engineer restores pay phones for free public use : NPR
• Landline Kids