TMIT 40: Why Your Family Needs a Landline (It's Not Just Nostalgia) with Chet Kittleson of Tin Can

We often blame the phone for stealing childhood. But what if the issue isn't just the presence of the smartphone, but the absence of the landline?When the landline died, we lost a major opportunity for growth. We lost the environment where kids learned to organize their own social lives and navigate awkward conversations with intermediaries (“Hi Mrs. Neufeld, is Greg home?”). Perhaps most importantly, we lost the practice of "cognitive patience": the ability to just sit and listen to a voice, with zero notifications, games, or screens to distract us.To explore this, we sat down with Chet Kittleson, founder of Tin Can, to discuss a radical, growing trend: Bringing back the landline.We discuss why giving children a dedicated, voice-only device like Tin Can is a master move in building family culture—not because we want to live in the past, but because we want to give our kids agency in the present.And, along the way, we explore what it’s like for Chet as a husband, father, and son to be the founder of a fast-growing company that is deeply connected to his family values.In This Episode, We Cover:The "Family Line" vs. The Personal Device: Why giving every family member a personal device killed the shared experience of the home phone, and how bringing it back helps kids learn to navigate the world.What is Tin Can? A look at the hardware that uses WiFi to work like a landline, but with a "whitelist" feature so kids can only call (and receive calls from) numbers parents approve.Cognitive Patience: The profound difference between a chaotic FaceTime call and the focus required to sit, listen, and hold an audio-only conversation.Founder & Father: Chet opens up about the challenges of building a high-growth startup. He shares his specific rituals for transitioning from "CEO mode" to "Dad mode"—including an e-bike commute that helps him shed the stress of the day.Teaching Through Struggle: How Chet uses his work to teach his kids that they too can do anything they set their minds to.Favorite Family Tradition: Don’t miss Chet’s unique family tradition at the end! (Hint: it involves Brussels sprouts and a baseball bat)Resources Mentioned:Get your own Tin Can: www.tincan.comFollow Tin Can on Instagram: @tincan.kids