How do you teach young kids to call 911, if you only have a smartphone?

In a world run by smartphones, making landlines nearly obsolete, parents are being forced to adjust when it comes to teaching their kids about what to do in an emergency and how to call 911.

As one Reddit user explained, what does a parent do “if you only have smartphones, how are you teaching your young kids to call 911?”

In today’s world, many households no longer have active landlines as most people, of a certain age, have their own device that can be carried with them anywhere and everywhere.

So what do you do when you don’t have a designated phone at home for your younger children, should they need to call 911?

“My husband and I have just had the realization that we can’t teach our 4 & a half year old to pick up the phone and dial 911, since ya know, we only have smartphones,” the user shared on Reddit.

“We talked about teaching her our passcodes, but we also don’t want her to just jump into our phones any ‘ol time,” they continued. “Ultimately, I feel like that’s what we are going to have to do because I cannot think of any other option if she needed to call for help and one of us was not at home and the other incapacitated.”

However, as people in the comments section shared there are other ways to make an emergency call without unlocking a smart phone or by using a smart device, like an Alexa or Google Home.

For iPhones:

A user can either hold down the volume up and lock button at the same time, or call up the passcode screen and locate the emergency button in the bottom left hand corner.

The lock button can also be pressed five consecutive times to call up the emergency call screen.

Siri can also dial 911 when asked, even when the phone is locked.

For Android devices:

A user can also swipe up the Lock Screen revealing an emergency button, or the lock button can be pressed five consecutive times to call up the emergency call screen.

As “What the Tech’s” Jamey Tucker reports, a phone does not have to be attached to an account to be used for emergency calls.

So if you have an old phone lying around, plug it in and keep it in a place where your young child can find it. Teach them that how to call up the emergency screen and let them know that this is the phone they can use in case of emergency.

Other commenters admitted that they have a landline through their internet provider “for the explicit purpose.”

“We got a really cheap internet phone line for this reason. It connects wifi and can plug in any landine phone to it. The only thing they charge per month is taxes which is about 2 dollars,” another commenter explained.

Nonetheless, it’s important for anyone to know how to use a locked smart phone in case of emergency.