In an age when childhood is defined by screens, one mother in Maine is dialing things back — literally.
Caron Morse, a mental health professional and mother of two, wasn’t eager to hand her daughter a smartphone when she asked for one at nine years old. She had watched the way social media, constant notifications, and endless scrolling could pull people in, and she didn’t want her children’s first steps into communication to be tethered to that. So when her daughter Molly turned ten, Morse wrapped up a gift that was more nostalgic than cutting-edge: a landline.
“At first I didn’t know what a landline was,” Molly admitted, laughing. She thought it was a toy phone. Then her mom explained it was the real thing — a phone you plug into the wall, with a cord and everything.
Now Molly, along with her eight-year-old sister Piper, spends afternoons winding the cord around her finger, flipping through handwritten lists of numbers, and calling grandparents, cousins, and friends. “You don’t get addicted to the screen and stuff,” Molly said. “All you do is just put it on your ear; you don’t have to look at it.” Piper agreed, saying, “It’s like way more easier and funner.”
For Morse, the landline was more than a nostalgic whim. It was a way of giving her kids independence. No more borrowing mom’s phone or asking her to text other parents. Now, Molly and Piper can make their own calls, plan their own playdates, and take some ownership of their social lives.
The only hitch? Very few kids have their own phones to pick up on the other end. That’s where the idea of a “landline pod” came in. Morse convinced friends, neighbors, and relatives to add their own lines, creating a network of about two dozen families the girls could reach.
“We couldn’t do this if we didn’t have our friends and our family and our neighbors jump on board,” Morse said.
One of those neighbors, Melinda Hull, bought a landline for her eight-year-old daughter Carly. “It’s wonderful, I mean it’s just so amazing,” Carly said. “I just like how simple it is to call my friends, and I can really listen and pay attention to what they’re saying.”
For Hull, that simplicity is the point. “It’s a really marvelous opportunity to help her build those skills,” she said. “To be a successful kid, an adult, and be able to really connect with people.”
What began as one mother’s way of resisting the pull of smartphones is now a small movement. Morse even started a website — landlinekids.org — to help other parents set up pods of their own.
