For parents, the decision is coming up earlier and earlier: Should you give your kid a smartphone? On one hand, you may fear it’ll turn your child into a hunched-over zombie, or that she’ll be constantly distracted, or that it’ll mess with her brain in ways we don’t yet know about, or some other bullet point on the list of no good, very bad potential consequences.
On the other hand, well, you’ve gotta get in touch with the kid sometimes. You want to know if softball practice is running late or whether she’s still waiting at the bus stop. Or maybe she’s away for two weeks at camp, and you simply want to check in.
We’ve suggested the idea of giving your kid an old flip phone (pink Motorola Razr, I have missed you!), and a whole crop of basic cell phones has recently hit the market, but there’s now an even more minimalistic option. Relay, a new device made by Republic Wireless, is being called the “anti-smartphone for kids” because of all that it doesn’t have. A palm-sized gadget with just one main button, it works like a walkie-talkie (yes, your family can pretend to be the modern cast of Stranger Things), though it connects via wifi and 4G LTE so you can use it anywhere you’d use a cell phone. No screens, no texting, no phone numbers to punch in. And since it’s designed for children ages six to 11 (and also the elderly), it’s able to weather some good drops and spills.
The company sent me a couple of Relays to test out. My daughter Maggie is five-and-a-half, so a bit younger than the target age, but we’ve been having fun with them. For the first 15 minutes after opening the box, Maggie and her dad just sat on opposite ends of the house making fart noises. (Obligatory.) Then, the other day, she spent the night at her grandparents’ house, and we talked as she was about to go to bed. Sure, I could have just asked my mother-in-law to hand her a phone, but there was something special about this old-school ritual of communication (I added “over and out” to my replies because how can you not?), and it was nice that the device was her own. The sound on the Relay is clear and although there’s a tiny delay, it hasn’t affected our conversations.
If you have multiple family members with Relays, you can talk to them all on the same private “channel” (dinner is at 6 pm sharp!), and if your kids’ friends have Relays, they can form a channel of their own. You as the parent can also choose to speak to your kid through the Relay app on your smartphone (iOS, Android and Microsoft). No data is ever stored, and Republic Wireless worked with Common Sense to make sure the device is safe and secure.
Relay is GPS enabled, so you can see where your kid is at any moment. I know there’s hesitation around digitally monitoring children, and I have my reservations, too, especially for older kids struggling to develop independence. But there’s also the argument that tracking young kids gives them more freedom. “Put childhood back in motion,” the Relay website proclaims. “Give kids what we had—space to grow, explore, find friends and have fun.” The fact is that we don’t live in an age where kids simply say, “See ya, I’ll be home before dinner” but maybe this technology could allow us to. Without having to send 72 texts to other neighborhood parents, you can know that Freya is across the street at Lily’s house and now she’s at Amber’s and now she’s walking home. I can see the Relay giving kids the ability to move beyond their mom or dads’ range of vision at amusement parks or the mall.
There are some challenges with using Relay, particularly without the app. First: There’s no ring or ability to ignore the thing. One day, with permission, I sent my daughter to school with it. As soon as she settled in, I started getting messages. “Hi, Mom.” Hi, Maggie. “I’m in the art room.” Okay. “Now I’m playing with blocks.” Okay. “Now I’m outside.” “Okay.” “Jenny wants to say hi.” Hi, Jenny. “HIIIIIIIIIIIIII!” Hi. “Hi, Michelle. This is Ms. Melaina. This is so neat! Does it work by satellite?” Yes, it connects through wifi and 4G LTE. “Nice. Okay, here’s Maggie again.” “Hi, Mom.” Hi, Maggie.
I had to tell her that I was about to go into a meeting and to only talk to me if there was an emergency. Part of me wanted to say “Just text me!” but then I remembered she had no way to do so and cannot yet read or write. (If you have the app, your kid can hold down the volume key on the Relay device and a push notification will appear on your smartphone, which alerts you to jump into your Relay app to talk.) Also, since it’s so small, it’s easy for kids to lose the device, though the company is developing a clip and arm strap to be sold separately. The battery life is not great—it lasts well over a day, but you should be charging it every night.
And Republic Wireless is constantly updating Relay to add more features. There’s already a tool that distorts your voice, and soon there will be games, streaming music, and a “kid friendly AI assistant.” These might be sellers for some, but the purist in me really wants a product that has none of that. I appreciate what Relay is at its most basic level—a walkie-talkie that you can take anywhere.
And yet just for that, Relay is pricey. A starter pack of two Relays costs $149, plus a $6.99 monthly plan. So in many ways, it makes sense for the company to keep making Relay more exciting with new, flashy add-ons. But at the same time, the more features it adds, the closer it becomes to the thing parents never wanted for their children in the first place: a smartphone.