A landline helps you put away your smartphone and unwind

You pick up your phone to check the time. A message is waiting. Someone sent a video. There is a headline you meant to read. When you look up again, the kettle has boiled and the book is still closed.

It can be difficult to put the phone away when it is also how people reach you. A child might call. A parent might need something. Keeping it nearby feels practical, even when the rest of what arrives can wait.

A home phone gives those calls somewhere else to go. You can leave the smartphone on a charger in the hallway and still hear a familiar person calling from the kitchen handset. That creates room to try a quieter evening without asking everyone to stop contacting you.

Give calls their own place

The useful part of a landline is the separate handset. A traditional line or a properly configured internet home phone can serve that purpose. Pick up, have a conversation, put it down. A simple calling handset has no social feed waiting at the end of the call.

The arrangement only works if the people who need you know how to reach it. Give your household number to a few important contacts and explain when you will be using it. Call it from your mobile to check that it rings where you can hear it. Do not assume calls to your mobile number will automatically arrive there; forwarding, where available, needs its own setup and test.

An internet phone also depends on its equipment, power and connection. Choose your reachable-hours routine around the service you actually have.

Make checking the screen a deliberate choice

A charger beside the sofa makes the phone easy to pick up during every pause. A charger in another room asks you to get up first. That small change gives you a moment to decide what you wanted the phone for.

You can arrange the rest of the room with the same care. Keep a book within reach. Put the crossword on the table. Find the radio station before sitting down. Leave the things you want to spend time with closer than the things you tend to check automatically.

This is a household experiment. Some evenings you need your smartphone for work, care responsibilities or accessibility tools. On those evenings, choose a smaller boundary that still fits: one meal, a chapter, or ten minutes with a cup of tea.

What research can tell us

In a restaurant experiment involving more than 300 participants, researchers randomly assigned groups to keep their phones on the table or put them away. The group with phones available reported more distraction and less enjoyment of the meal. A separate experience-sampling study found a similar pattern during everyday interactions. Dwyer, Kushlev and Dunn, 2018.

Those studies examined smartphones during social time. They did not test whether buying a landline makes people happier. A home handset is one practical way to make putting a smartphone away more workable; the habit is what you are trying out.

Try an evening you would want to repeat

Start with a manageable stretch, such as the time between dinner and the children’s bedtime.

1. Check the calling route. Make sure the people you expect to hear from have the household number and that the handset rings.
2. Park your smartphone. Choose a charging spot away from where you plan to relax. Keep any necessary exceptions available.
3. Choose something pleasant. Read, cook, listen to music, talk, or sit without filling every pause.
4. Notice the experience. Did you pick the phone up less? Was it easier to stay with what you were doing? Adjust the arrangement for tomorrow.

There is no score to keep and no need to turn an evening into another productivity project. You are finding out whether a familiar phone in a useful place makes it easier to leave the pocket computer alone for a while.

That is one reason we like the home phone at Doorman. It gives conversation a place in the house. When the call ends, the book is still there, and you can turn the next page.

Further reading

• Kevin Roose, “Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain,” The New York Times, February 23, 2019.
• Kevin Roose, “Is Tech Too Easy to Use?” The New York Times, December 12, 2018.
• For a shared evening routine, read How a landline can keep your marriage from scrolling away.