Kristen Chase, Author at Cool Mom Tech

How to avoid tech neck: Tips for a healthier, more ergonomic laptop experience for your teens and tweens

by Kristen Chase | Gear + Hardware, Tips and Tricks

If your kids are using a laptop or Chromebook for their schoolwork (or gaming), there are a few simple things you can do to help them avoid tech neck. Yes, it’s totally a thing (says the person who’s on her computer most hours of the day). Here are our...

5 important back-to-school tech conversations to have with your tweens and teens

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

With back-to-school around the corner for us (and here for many of you), I always like to take some time to have tech conversations before things get super hectic. Whether your kids have their own phones or not, these tech conversations still apply (in many cases),...

Cell phone etiquette for kids: 10 things they need to know

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

After a little texting debacle between my 11-year old and her friends, I realized that maybe I wasn’t the only parent dealing with cell phone etiquette issues. And, after asking our Out Tech Your Kids group about the annoying cell phone habits their kids have,...

Google Kids Space: A new, exciting way to help kids discover, create, and grow.

by Kristen Chase | Gear + Hardware

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Google Raising digital natives who are curious about the world around them can be challenging for parents. From keeping up with their ever changing interests to encouraging their creativity, parenting kids who are constantly...

A very smart AirPods trick I learned from a very smart tween.

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

We’ve said this many times here that some of our best iPhone tricks come from the digital natives in our lives, which is exactly where I got this simple, but very smart AirPods trick. You may be thinking “Are there really AirPods tricks?” and well, I...

5 fun YouTube Kids Halloween video playlists and channels to get your kids in the spirit!

by Kristen Chase | Entertainment, Kids

Here are some fun Halloween-themed playlists that your kids may enjoy on YouTube. Yes, YouTube. Now that YouTube Kids has upped their parental controls game, I’ve been feeling more comfortable with them using the app, and hey, sometimes it’s nice to just...

A brilliant tech trick for when you can’t remember all those sort of important numbers

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

If you’ve ever searched and searched for your frequent flyer numbers (God help me) or insurance card numbers or the numbers that you need every now and then but don’t really need to memorize, then I have the coolest tech trick for you. Related: A cool...

The iPhone trick I can’t believe I hadn’t been using before now

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

I’m not sure about you, but even with an iPhone 12, which is not the biggest iPhone out there (hello, 12 Pro Max friends), I’m a two-handed keyboard user. I generally peck with my right pointer, and add a little left-hand thumb action now and then. And...

This service can make a special digital memory book from photos and videos for Father’s Day. Free!

by Kristen Chase | Father's Day Gifts

I love giving the gift of photos, videos, and heartfelt messages for Father’s Day (or any special day, really), but they’re not exactly the easiest things to give long distance to say, a grandpa. Do you attach a video to an email? Send a sweet text? Print...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.