As parents turn back to landline phones to cut down their kids’ screen exposure, here are other old-school hacks to pass the time
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The good old landline is making a quiet comeback, giving kids a way to chat with friends without slipping into the endless scroll of apps. It was slower, taught patience and turn-taking — a far cry from today’s chaotic group chats. And stepping away from screens doesn’t mean boredom. The 1990s thrived on unstructured, active play and simple joys that kept kids engaged, curious, and connected. Once the devices are down, here are a few throwback ways to bring that screen-free energy back.
Radio and mixtapes
Before Spotify, there was the radio, Walkmans, and handmade mixtapes. Reintroducing kids to the charm of listening without the distraction of endless video and scrolling can be surprisingly grounding. Curating 12 songs for one side of a tape meant thinking hard about what mattered. Imagine kids valuing music instead of skipping 30 songs in three minutes.
TV, by appointment
Watching a show at a certain time or waiting for your favourite song on the radio built anticipation and collective joy, unlike the binge-everything-now culture.
Buy an atlas
Before Google Maps, families huddled over a big atlas to trace rivers, borders, and dream of faraway countries — a simple way to spark curiosity, geography sense, and big-picture thinking without a screen.
Go, shoot
Not on a cellphone but on film cameras. Snapping 24 carefully chosen photos and waiting for them to be developed made us value moments more than chasing likes.
Meet at the adda
Hanging out on building staircases, under trees, or in the society’s garden with friends — no “planned playdates”, just community and conversation, is such a stress-buster.
Pen pals, letters, diary
Waiting days for a reply taught patience, reflection, and the art of writing feelings — a stark contrast to the instant gratification of instant DMs. To take it further, you could even get them started on handwritten diaries — pouring secrets, doodles, and angst into a physical diary with a tiny lock and key. Way
more therapeutic than oversharing on Instagram stories.
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