Back to the future: Can 1980s tech save kids from social media?
Landline phones are making a comeback as families embrace old technology to help their screen-addicted teens. Now we just need to teach them how that rotating dial works ...
82436. That’s my childhood landline number and while I haven’t called it for more than 20 years I remember it with ease. Much more easily, in fact, than the mobile phone numbers of my children, which I’d have trouble recalling if I was hit by a bus and lay dying in the street.
Which is why I’m thrilled that in a twist few saw coming, landlines are making a modest but meaningful comeback.
In fact, as Australia’s upcoming social media ban for under-16s approaches in December, landlines are emerging not just as cute retro throwbacks like film cameras, but as a helpful tool as society shifts to more controlled, screen-free communication modes for younger teens.
While critics say we can’t go backwards, others argue it’s a great digital buffer, allowing a clever recalibration as they prepare to lose access to social media apps. With concerns around youth mental health, tech addiction and digital safety escalating, the landline provides connection and independence – but with boundaries.
In a US community in Maine, known as a “landline pod”, a group of families co-ordinated to reinstall wall phones for their pre-teen children to reduce distraction and improve their listening and empathy through focused phone conversations.
Meanwhile, in the UK, some schools have reintroduced landlines in boarding houses as part of a policy to curb smartphone addiction among students aged 13-16. Teachers at St Edward’s School in Oxford report greater participation in after-school activities and more books being borrowed from the school library since the landlines were introduced last September.
Here, kids as young as 11 are scrambling to sign up for social media before the bans come into effect but Telstra is using the search for alternatives to spruik the advantages of landlines. “Having a landline meant you never knew who was calling (unless they were saved in your favourites list) or who would pick up,” says Marty McGrath who leads the telco’s Fixed Connectivity products team. “This built kids’ confidence, social skills, and the ability to quickly decide between saying hello or just hanging up out of sheer panic.”
Parents are realising that in getting rid of their landline they took away a helpful lifeline for kids to connect with friends and family and replaced it with a convenient but dangerous option, says Andrea Davis, author of Creating a Tech-Healthy Family and founder of the Better Screen Time website.
“My 13-year-old son, who doesn’t have a smartphone, used our landline today to call and make plans with a friend,” she says. “Our local library has a free landline outside the building for anyone to use. I’m hopeful that schools, families and community partners will makes landlines accessible again for our children.”
US-based Davis, who says it’s never too late to turn things around when it comes to your teens and screentime, believes Australia’s proposed social media ban is a bold step that recognises protecting children from harm requires collective action, not just individual parental effort.
She says when she started Better Screen Time she wanted to help parents be aware of the dangers of smartphones, but over time she realised even very engaged parents were struggling to keep their kids off addictive tech and apps.
“I met parents who had lost children due to online harms. These parents looked just like any other parent. They loved their kids. They were working to keep them safe and they lost that battle. It was then I realised that to truly protect children we need governments, tech companies, schools and communities to step up and help parents in establishing laws and guidelines so families don’t have to experience that heartache and tragedy,” she says.
In the meantime, Davis says it’s not impossible to backtrack if you’ve already given your child a smartphone or allowed them access to apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
Having given her eldest daughter Elise an old smartphone age 12 to keep in touch with friends when they moved cities, she was horrified when a few months later she saw a social media post from her daughter holding her hand to her head and lip-synching about a Glock.
Davis knew her daughter hadn’t grasped the meaning of the lyrics but she was alarmed: “I realised at that moment that we had failed her. We had given her too much, too soon. The algorithms had pulled my child into a content that was completely inappropriate for her age.”
She says when she and her husband told Elise they were going to replace her smartphone with a phone without internet access, she cried – but within weeks they started seeing her old self return as she started drawing more and enjoying her ballet classes.
“She was still a normal teen navigating adolescence but she was herself again – not some distracted version of herself.”
Now aged 20, Elise says while she found the restrictions difficult at the time and she felt left out, she’s now “super grateful” for her parents’ intervention and now has a healthy relationship with her phone.
In fact one of her friends recently confessed to feeling so addicted to her phone she needed to sleep with it clutched in her hands.
As Davis says: “My daughter talked her into setting her phone on the floor in the middle of the room, instead of sleeping with it. This was real progress!”
TIPS FOR TURNING BACK SMARTPHONE USE
Andrea Davis has these tips for helping parents backtrack on smartphones and social media.
Forget the guilt
Instead of feeling guilty for decisions made, Davis advises focusing on the present and future.
Apologise to your child
Admit you made a mistake. Davis suggests saying something simple such as: “I don’t feel I got the timing right when I gave you a phone/understood the power of this app/realised how little we’d talked about pornography and I’m really sorry.” Then explain how as a parent it’s your responsibility to keep your child safe and healthy. One of her favourite pieces of parenting wisdom is telling her kids: “I reserve the right to be wiser today than I was yesterday”.
Link up
Working with friends or a community to reset tech makes it easier to reject a phone-based childhood. As she says, never underestimate the power of a group of parents.
Foster your relationship with your child
Your child will be frustrated by the new boundaries, so show up with extra love and empathy. Acknowledge that they feel left out of a group chat or a gaming group.
Start with one step
Try a phased approach where you simplify your teen to using one social media app or you enforce time limits.
Encourage alternative ways to connect
Lean into in-persona connections by opening your home and remember most kids need just a few good friends to be socially fulfilled and happy.
Create a family tech plan
Talk through the Where, When, What, How Long and Who With as a family. Davis has a guide on www.betterscreentime.com
Teach the “why”
When kids are made aware of tech design tricks and dangers they are more likely to become digitally discerning and get on board with the changes.
Got a story tip? Email education@news.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as Back to the future: Can 1980s tech save kids from social media?
