Millennial Mom Realizes Gen Alpha Kids 'Don't Know How' To Use a Landline

Newsweek

20-07-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A mom has been praised for introducing some retro technology to her home to give her kids independence while keeping them away from cell phones.
Brittney Mast, 38, a stay-at-home mom of two from Portland, Oregon, runs Instagram account @momsfororegon, where she discusses "local and progressive politics accessible to busy moms."
One issue she's noticed which is important to parents across the political spectrum is kids' use of technology.
As she put it to Newsweek: "I've come to view this topic as perhaps one of the last bipartisan issues that crosses the deep political divide we currently find ourselves in. Kids and technology is as much an issue for liberal parents as it is for conservative parents. There's common ground to be found here."
With Mast's two children, aged 9 and almost 7, getting older, she and her husband are determined they "aren't getting a cell phone anytime soon," and hope to delay it until they are driving age—but, "we also want to give them increased opportunities for independence."
Brittney Mast's home phone, which she has taught her young kids to use.
Brittney Mast's home phone, which she has taught her young kids to use.
Instagram @momsfororegon
"Someday they'll be old enough to stay home alone. That is not going to be a safe option unless there's an available phone for emergencies," she said. "Since we only had cell phones, we had to think about how that would work.
"My husband and I were joking that we didn't have this problem when we were growing up, because there was always a home phone around. And then we were like, why don't we just do that?
"So we did our research, and figured out a home phone option that gave us what we needed."
In a video posted to her Instagram on March 27, and boasting close to 130,000 likes, Mast showed the cordless phone—connected via the internet rather than a hard landline—sitting pride of place on a corner table in their home.
She wrote over the simple clip: "POV you're a millennial who just put a 'home phone' into their house in the year 2025."
And in the caption, she laid out her reasons: they don't want their kids to have a cell phone until they're "much older," but once they're old enough to stay home on their own, they'll have a phone available to them for an emergency.
And they'll have the independence to be able to speak to family without using a parent's cell phone.
Explaining point number four, she wrote: "We realized they don't know how to hold a conversation on the phone, they're too used to FaceTime!"
"So far the kids think it's awesome, and they love calling Grammy all on their own," she added in the caption.
And it had a major reaction, with commenters flocking to the video, one writing: "We did this. I hope this becomes a trend over the next few years. Force these kids to have to have actual conversations!"
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"We got one when our kids could stay home alone," another said. "My girls are 14 and still don't have cell phones. We will get them flip phones next year when they start high school."
"I LOVE THIS!! My daughter is almost 7 and already she has kids asking if she can text them on the weekends," another mom wrote, as one shared: "We were talking about doing this when our kid gets a little older but isn't ready for a phone."
According to a 2021 report from Common Sense Media, 42 percent of children in the US have a cell phone by age 10, moving to 71 percent at age 12, and 91 percent by 14.
Tweens were found to be spending 5 hours 33 minutes a day using screen media, with teens using it for 8 hours 39 minutes on average, including cell phone use, watching TV and playing video games.
Mast says the home phone has become a "valuable tool" for their kids. Since they were used to video calling, she had to "coach them on basic phone manners, like saying 'hello' when they answer, always responding out loud—not just nodding—and how to carry on a conversation.
"Coaching them on phone etiquette was pretty eye-opening."
The kids now know how to scroll the phonebook and call family, giving them a "layer of independence...in a way that is safe," and Mast is encouraging other families to consider it as an option.
"The less families that default to cell phones, the less of an issue it will be for all of our kids," she said. "Especially for children in elementary school. The longer we can delay their dependence on personal smart technology, the better."
Responding to the huge, "mostly supportive and enthusiastic" response to her video, she said it has "opened my eyes to how much parents across the political spectrum are grappling with this issue of kids and technology."
"My content on Instagram is rather political, so it's been really interesting to see accounts share that reel who I don't think I would have a lot in common with otherwise. But this is something we agree on."
"Those responses really validated the whole reason we decided to install a home phone in the first place."