mobiles 'on the landing'

[herbivorie]

What does 'on the landing' mean in this case?

A few weeks earlier, we had been chatting as a family about our tech-life balance and seeing if we could have some non-screen time (NST) – albeit in units of hours rather than days. No screens before school, all mobiles on the landing at night, no calls at meal-times-type agreements. It was working – but could it work better?

(from here: Can our family escape the tyranny of the screen? | Life and style | The Guardian)
Thank you in advance.

 

[BobK]

landing - definition. American English definition of landing by Macmillan Dictionary (the second definition - the first part of that definition). The point is that the children don't have their mobiles in their bedroom (although in another sense of mobile ... ;-))

b

 

[herbivorie]

So, does it mean '(all mobiles) on the area at the top of a set of stairs'???
I looked it up in dictionaries before I posted the question here, but I didn't think that's it.
I thought it's strange to put a mobile at the top of a set of stairs, because I would put it on a table or something in a separate room, not on the floor, if it was me.

 

[MikeNewYork]

So, does it mean '(all mobiles) on the area at the top of a set of stairs'???
I looked it up in dictionaries before I posted the question here, but I didn't think that's it.
I thought it's strange to put a mobile at the top of a set of stairs, because I would put it on a table or something in a separate room, not on the floor, if it was me.

In many homes, the bedrooms are upstairs from the living areas. This piece might be saying that the children cannot use the mobile phones in the bedroom (too private) but must use them on the landing. This does not mean that the phone has to be on the floor.

 

[herbivorie]

Could there be a small table (for a vase, a home phone, etc.) on the stair landing? If so, that makes sense.
I didn't think of it at first because I'm not used to seeing things placed on stair landings (probably because of the smallness of Japanese houses and frequent earthqueakes here.)

 

[5jj]

Yes, there could.