Mum-of-three Bella knows her eldest child is fast approaching that age when she will want a phone. While the nine-year-old isn’t demanding the latest iPhone right now, the NSW mum is keen on delaying that moment for a little while longer.

Bella admitted that growing up now is a world away from her upbringing in the ’90s, but she had fond memories of chatting to her pals on her home landline. She told Yahoo Lifestyle she’s going to revive that piece of technology for her nine, five, and two-year-olds.

“I’m trying to navigate raising these kids and their desires for being social and having a social life, but then also not wanting to expose them too intensely to screens or the world of the internet or social media or any of those types of things,” she said.

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“The nostalgia of being a child and calling my friends or someone calling my family phone number and asking if they could speak with me, and being so excited that someone had called the home phone and then spending half an hour on the phone to my friends in the hallway was such a beautiful time for me as a child.”

She wants to put the phone in the kitchen or living area and insists on having the corded version so they don’t sneak off into their rooms to chat to their friends.

This isn’t so that the e-commerce worker can listen in on her nine-year-old’s conversations, but she wants a phased approach to introducing her kids to the world of communication.

Do you have an approach to parenting and want to tell your story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com

“A public place, to me, just feels like a safe way to solve the problem,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.

“I want my kids to be social. I want them to have friends. But they don’t necessarily need a screen to do that.

“They want to be with their friends. But I just want to do it in a safe way and then slowly work up to social media.”

Bella believed that calling your friends is an “important” life lesson, especially in the age when so many kids would prefer to text their pals.

She said she will wait until her eldest daughter really wants and needs to chat to her friends on the phone before getting the landline, insisting that she wants this to be a collaborative process for everyone.

The amount of screen time a child has each day is an issue that many parents across the country grapple with, and the NSW mum felt a landline would ensure her kids wouldn’t get hooked on phones and tablets too early in their development.

Aussie parents want to jump on the landline bandwagon

Her idea was backed by other parents, some of whom thought it was a “brilliant” and “genius” way of tackling the dilemma of when to give their children access to a phone.

“We got a house phone when my daughter was 5 so we could teach her how to call 000 in an emergency,” wrote one Aussie parent.

“Once she was older we then started using it for her to call her grandparents and cousins and she loved it so much.”

“I love this and I think we should all do this,” added another.

“If we all do this, we can make it cool again,” said a third.

Some, though, were skeptical of how much the kids would take to a home phone considering many kids prefer to text each other, either through messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, or on social media apps.

If enough people followed in Bella’s footsteps, it could help landline phones come back into vogue.

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With smartphones available for purchase across Australian retailers for less than $100, plus their access to the internet and certain apps, it’s not hard to see why the need for a landline is dwindling.

According to ACMA, only 29 per cent of Aussies only had a mobile phone and no landline in 2015.

That’s now grown to 63 per cent.

In 2020, 38 per cent had a phone and a mobile, but that fell to 34 per cent just two years later.

Unsurprisingly, young people are the biggest users of mobile-only calls.

ACMA found 82 per cent of Aussies aged 25 to 34 years conducted calls through their smartphone, compared to just 27 per cent of those aged over 75.

You can pick up a landline from several retailers in Australia, with some costing as little as $29.95, while others could set you back nearly $200.

In terms of a monthly plans, many telcos will throw in a landline for free with a home internet plan.

But Telstra has a $50 per month plan for those who just want a landline, which gives unlimited calls to local, national, mobile and 13 numbers.

Aussie teens and kids days away from being booted from social media

Bella’s plan comes hot on the heels of a major law change that could see Aussie teens using their phones much less.

From December 10, kids under the age of 16 won’t be able to access the following social media platforms:

  • X (formally known as Twitter)

Previously, users had to be at least 13 to get a social media account, however these platforms will introduce age verification protections within a few weeks.

These social media sites will soon face fines of nearly $50 million if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to block young users from the December 10 date.

“The purpose of this law is clear – this is about creating cultural change so that young Australians have three more years to build real world connections and online resilience,” Communications minister, Anika Wells, said.

“This national education campaign will spread awareness about the changes coming for all Australian families.

“Parents and carers are encouraged to start having conversations about these news laws with their families to help them prepare.”

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