Experts advise no smartphone or social media access for young children until around age 13, leaving parents to manage children's social lives. A corded, kid-focused home phone model offers voice-only VoIP calling that plugs into a router or ethernet port, with a Wi-Fi version planned. Corded design limits range while a companion app allows parents to control availability. Devices use unique five-digit codes for child-to-child calls and have no monthly fees; an optional $10/month upgrade will enable calling standard phone numbers and emergency services. The phones retail for $75 and avoid texting, cameras, and internet distractions.
In today's world, communication is largely done through one of two methods: smartphones or social media. Young children, however, rarely have access to either-and experts say they shouldn't have any access at all until age 13 or later. That leaves many parents as the gatekeepers of their children's social lives, long past the days of mommy-and-me classes and playdates. But an old-school solution is giving kids more independence: the landline.
Once considered obsolete (AT&T even tried to stop servicing them in California last year), the home phone is making a comeback. Seattle-based Tin Can is hoping to lead the revival with a redesigned corded phone that lets kids call their friends and arrange get-togethers-without involving parents and without the distractions or dangers of a smartphone, such as texting, cameras, or internet access. The idea for Tin Can came when founder Chet Kittleson was talking with other parents of elementary school-aged children at a park.
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