Interface problems
May 11, 2012 8:26 AM   Subscribe

So what have you done to help your small child use a cell phone?

My child and her father communicate well in person, but the only phone in the house is a cell phone, and when they try to speak by phone it is inevitably an excersize in frustration. When she holds the phone to her ear, he can't hear her, when she holds the phone to her mouth, it's a little better (I put it on speaker phone), but then she starts waving it around & he can't hear her. I've explained about speakers & microphones & the importance of placement & tried holding the phone to her head, but in the end, every time, the whole business just ends in tears and anger. Are there explanations, gizmos, teaching approaches that have helped with this sort of problem in your family? For what it's worth, our phone is a rectangular block, not one of those fold-open phones.
posted by Ys to Technology (16 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I have an iphone, so I put the phone on speaker and then "lock" it so they can't hit buttons by accident and hang up, mute, dial, etc by mistake.

You could also just get one of these.
posted by tilde at 8:29 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


You hold the phone.
posted by chickenmagazine at 8:30 AM on May 11, 2012 [2 favorites]


Can you pick up a cheap pair of earbuds/mouthpiece or some such meant for your phone?
posted by infini at 8:30 AM on May 11, 2012


When a phone's in speaker mode, holding it by her head shouldn't be necessary. Why not just put in down flat on a table that she's sitting at?
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:31 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


You could rock out with a Retro Handset.
posted by Captain_Science at 8:34 AM on May 11, 2012


Try a headset like a Plantronics M 214C - headset - Semi-open, Monaural
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:35 AM on May 11, 2012


What about Skype or FaceTime? That way they're talking face to face.
posted by katypickle at 8:36 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


Can't you have the phone on a table near head height and have her stand near it? That way, she doesn't have to control the placement of the phone, just the placement of her mouth.
posted by teraspawn at 8:48 AM on May 11, 2012


chickenmagazine, I don't mean to speak for the OP, but I live with a toddler and attempting to hold the phone to the child's head results in screams of "I want to hold the phone!" or "Let me do it!" and the inevitable tears that result are no fun to deal with.

I also recommend Skype. We've had good success using that.
posted by BrianJ at 8:52 AM on May 11, 2012


We use skype because of this and it is still a challenge. The only way we've gotten the phone to work at all is on speaker phone, but that is still much more difficult than skype because my 2 (almost 3) year old is just better when he can see who he is talking to.
posted by katers890 at 9:02 AM on May 11, 2012


Can you teach her how to dial the phone herself using a sequence of 3-4 picture icons? If so, then you can train daddy to hang up if he can't hear her, and she can try her call again all over. This is a time consuming process but she might appreciate having control over the situation and a clear goal to achieve (keep daddy on the phone).
posted by crazycanuck at 9:08 AM on May 11, 2012


I have ( and looove) one of these, and can foresee a problem. The mute/disconnect button is located dead center of the inside of the handset. Little fingers may be just the right size for hitting that when trying to hold it.
I don't see a lock-on position.
Otherwise they do give great sound and are quite light to hold.

(why yes it is a bright red phone- MST3K gift package FTW!)
posted by whowearsthepants at 9:13 AM on May 11, 2012


Nthing Skype. It's easier and fun (or at least, my niece adores it).

Also, there is some controversy over the effects of cell phone radiation on children. This link is a bit biased, but they do provide you with references to the papers where they gathered the data: http://www.controlyourimpact.com/2008/03/disadvantages-of-cell-phones-the-effect-on-children/
posted by valoius at 10:24 AM on May 11, 2012


In a related vein...

I had a hard time teaching my kids to use a standard home phone, which made me feel really old. They're used to cell phones where you have to dial the number, then press 'SEND.' On a wireless home phone, though, you have to press the 'ON' button, wait for a dial tone (which totally confused my daughter - she wanted to know why the phone sounded broken!), and then dial the number.
posted by tacodave at 3:09 PM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]


My toddler loves to wear a Bluetooth headset. There was a little "don't touch" training, but he gets it now and is happy to put it on and talk to grandma.
posted by rebeccabeagle at 12:43 AM on May 12, 2012


Response by poster: Thank you all!
posted by Ys at 12:27 PM on May 14, 2012


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