A version of the following article appeared in the May 6, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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New ‘Tin Can’ devices simulate old landlines, with no group texts or Snapchat; ‘It’s ringing. You have to pick it up.’
Third grader Lillian Hsu dials up a friend on her Tin Can wireless phone. (Photo courtesy of Karla Hsu)
by Carroll Walton
Karla Hsu and her husband, Johann, have always been conscious of screen time. They don’t allow their two elementary school-aged daughters to have iPads, and TV time is limited.
But with middle school on the horizon, and experts warning of the dangers of smartphones and social media, they decided to be proactive in their next step: They gave their daughters a Wi-Fi-enabled phone called a Tin Can, which works like an old landline phone and only makes phone calls, to connect with friends instead.
“We’ve seen all the studies that link detrimental mental health to kids’ use of cellphones and social media,” Hsu said. “You’re essentially giving your child access to the whole world. We are against that. But I don’t want our kids to feel left out, either. The Tin Can is a way we can give them access to their friends without a screen, without text messages, without group chats. And it’s in our home where we can actually see what’s happening.”
Hsu, who is known as “Charlotte Mama” on Instagram, where she has nearly 95,000 followers as a parent influencer, saw a video clip of Jonathan Haidt, author of the bestselling book “The Anxious Generation,” recommending the Tin Can. Haidt attributes a rise in teenage anxiety and depression to a shift from play-based childhoods to ones built on virtual interactions of smart technology and social media.
The wireless-based Tin Can phone, which costs $100, plugs into a power outlet. It looks like an old soup can that children used to attach to another with a string to play “telephone.”
Parents have to coordinate with other families who have Tin Can phones to share five-digit codes, but calls to other Tin Cans are free. Making outside calls to traditional phone numbers requires a $10 monthly subscription.
All Tin Can phones, with or without subscriptions, can dial 911. Parents can access call logs in a Tin Can app on their cellphones, detailing with whom and how long their children have talked.
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