UNIVERSITY CITY — At first, the Merida children were baffled by their new phone.

They had to punch in numbers to call someone. There was no screen to see the person they were talking to. It had two pieces, attached to each other by a coily cord. And it was always in the same place, tethered to the wall near their stairs.

When it rang for the first time, 11-year-old Cecilia picked up the pink handset and waited silently.

“She didn’t know what to say,” says Cecilia’s mom, Liz Hatfield of University City. “We made a little script.”

Many members of Generation Alpha have never used — or even seen — a landline telephone. Fewer than 1 in 3 American households still have one. But their slide toward obsolescence may be slowing.

Today’s millennial parents hold fond memories of landlines as thei

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