Not purely broadband here, but certainly a look at use of technology. Also – fun for anyone whose dad ever yelled, “there’s a boy on the phone” to see it come around again. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports…

While a majority of American 11-and-12-year-olds have their own smartphones, the Minneapolis mother of three is among a growing cohort of parents looking back to their own childhoods for a lower-tech alternative. They’re ringing up the landline most households have now abandoned, whose old-school handsets are so rare parents have to coach kids how to use them. These modern “landlines,” which are actually Wi-Fi-enabled home phones, have proved popular. One kid-friendly version, the Tin Can, is on a several-month backorder.

Millennial and Gen X parents who spent their teenage years stretching spiral phone cords into their bedrooms and talking until their receiver-ears burned, are reviving the home phone to improve their kids’ communication skills without the risks a pocketful of internet can bring.

Hatling and other Minnesota parents say the landline has introduced their kids to the lost art of conversation, given them more independence and helped them take responsibility for their relationships.

But first, Gen Alpha had to learn Landline 101: How to put your mouth near the receiver.

Why did they cut the cordless?

The landline appealed to Hatling because she was concerned by research in “The Anxious Generation” connecting smartphones’ arrival to rising rates of anxiety and depression among teens. Her own observations worried her, too.