Why we built Barnluren: a founder's letter

Like many modern families we have a few long distance connections. In our case these span New Zealand, Sweden and Chicago. We have made extensive use of Skype and FaceTime to enable our daughter to keep in touch with her grandparents and extended family.

We accepted and were thankful that this technology allowed her to build these relationships over such long distances. Video calling has some drawbacks though, we ended up being the go-between for each interaction, logging in, checking availability, starting the call.

Now that my daughter is 9 and building a social life at school and through after school activities, she has started to plan things with her friends independently. Recently she wanted to play Minecraft with a friend from school. What followed was a chain of messages — her friend's father texted my wife, who was traveling. My wife texted me. I tried the other parent, too late, they'd already stopped waiting. On the next attempt I was cooking and missed the reply. The two girls eventually got to play together, through their parents' phones, only because four adults had finally managed to align our schedules. This was a playdate between two children who lived a few streets apart.

I grew up with a landline. My friends called me. I called them. The phone rang, and whoever was closest picked up. We didn't need our parents to plan anything. I realised my daughter is deprived of something we took for granted growing up — a family landline.

The gap

Since embracing mobile phones, landlines have become an endangered species. Practically no home has a landline these days. This leaves a gap.

Somewhere along the way, we threw the baby out with the bathwater.

Research globally has started to measure the impact of devices with screens and social media on the development of children. I am a firm believer in the negative effects of screen time, both from my own personal experience and from observing my and other children. So I decided to order a family landline. I was a bit surprised at how difficult and expensive this would be, approximately 400 kr a month, with calling priced per minute on top. I also did not want to have a phone that could be called by telemarketers or people we did not know.

As soon as this idea came into my head, I was flooded with memories of using the phone as a child. Birthday phone calls from family. Getting someones phone number for the first time. Building deep friendships by talking to friends for hours into the night. I knew these were experiences I wanted to give my daughter the opportunity to experience.

The idea

What if we could bring back the landline - but better? A phone that:

• Only connects to people the parents have approved
• Has no screen, no internet, no apps
• Is simple enough for a five-year-old to use
• And bridges the analog and digital world, allowing calls to and from grandparents smart phones for example

That's Barnluren. A private voice network for families.

Why voice calls matter

My experience observing my daughter using FaceTime has been mixed. Sometimes it has enabled highly rewarding long distance play sessions with both ends fully engaged and the phone becoming a real window into the childs life. On the other hand, some "conversations" with family have devolved into nothing but changing the AI faces in FaceTime and searching for and sending emojis. The device had quietly taken the relationship's place. Observing these calls left me frustrated - the level of distraction fom these features meant my child was ignoring questions and conversations did not flow. Sometimes voice is simply better.

Had we not switched to Barnluren I think regular voice only calls would have been a better way to go for most conversations with grandparents and extended family. However, we do not want to give our child a smartphone until later. I also strongly believe there is something important in the spontaniety of calling someone yourself, and of hearing the phone ring and answering it. There is excitement in the feeling of your own phone ringing, knowing someone is calling just you.

Once we got Barnluren working and my daughter switched to voice calls I realised there is a muscle she is missing that she had to start to exercise - learning to ask questions, and figure out conversational turns without distractions. I could see immediately these conversations were a different experience.

Research supports this. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time while encouraging rich verbal interaction. Voice calls provide exactly that.

Building social independence not social networks

Our mission is to Improve Childhood. Barnluren is a tool for children to build social skills not a social network. I believe the freedom to call a friend nearby from an early age opens a world of possibilities that both lead to stronger relationships and more real world interactions.

My experiences watching my child react to the phone ringing and the delight of an unexpected conversation with a Grandparent or cousin has been very rewarding already.

Research and regulations are catching up to this view point, from Australia to Denmark and France restrictions are being put in place to stop children using social media. A landline gives children the opportunity to be truly social with their friends and family without broadcasting to the world or building an online history.

What's next

We're just getting started. Barnluren is live, and in an early beta testing with a few families where it is already creating small moments of genuine connection. We have just opened signups for our Pioneer beta program which will validate the product by giving devices to groups ot 10 connected children.

This is not just nostalgia. It's development.

• Greg Chrystall, Co-Founder, Barnluren