by Christina Refford | Games + Gaming, Internet Safety, Social Media, Tips and Tricks
Recently, Meta announced it would be launching new parental safety controls for teens in the form of tools and resources for both the Instagram social media app and their Meta Quest VR gaming headsets. The goal is to help parents better manage what our teens are...
by Liz Gumbinner | Photography, Tips and Tricks
Fireworks are at the top of nearly everybody’s list of favorite Fourth of July memories, but capturing the magic in fireworks photos can be extremely tricky. So we scoured our favorite photography and tech resources for great photo tips for fireworks, so that...
by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps, Entertainment, Tips and Tricks
It took me longer than most people to get into audiobooks. Even while friends raved about flying through so many books on their commutes or while sitting in carpool lines, I had tried a few novels on Audible — good ones! — and just couldn’t get...
by Christina Refford | Fitness + Health, Tips and Tricks
Lately, a lot of readers have been asking us to recommend the best Fitbit for their needs — for themselves as a form of self-care, for gifts for others (ahem Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are coming up), or just an upgrade to an older model they...
by Christina Refford | Best Apps, Father's Day Gifts, Mother's Day Gifts, Tips and Tricks
After creating a group video for my teen’s birthday during the height of the pandemic, I realized how many other occasions it would be perfect for: end-of-year teacher appreciation gifts, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation, special anniversaries...
by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks
With the big breaking news this week about the controversial purchase and privatization of Twitter by Elon Musk, a lot of users are talking about whether they’ll consider deleting their Twitter account, for a variety of reasons. Some users are uncomfortable with...
by Caroline Siegrist | Causes and Giving Back, Educational Apps, Tips and Tricks
I’m among millions of parents all over the country concerned about widespread efforts to ban “controversial” books in our public libraries. Especially when the lists include some of our favorite books, and plenty of them are not...
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,...
by Caroline Siegrist | Tips and Tricks
I’ve been hearing more and more people asking how to back up computer data, as they express concerns about cyberattacks lately. Which has reminded me to make sure that my own data is properly backed up too. Even if cyberattack fears are unwarranted (oof,...
by Liz Gumbinner | Gear + Hardware, Internet Safety, Kids, Tips and Tricks
We’ve officially hit the point of full Apple product saturation in our household — and as so many parents in our Out Tech Your Kids community tell us, they have too. So what do you do when you’re all basically on Apple devices, your kid needs a new...
by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks, Travel
My parents were in the market for a portable car jump starter, (also known as a portable car battery charger), because as city folk, they keep an older model car in the city but don’t drive it much. That means they need to have some kind of reliable car jump...
by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps, Tips and Tricks
Recently, as you may have heard (ahem) a bunch of influential musical artists have been leaving Spotify, podcasters are rethinking the platform, and plenty of listeners are canceling their Spotify Premium subscriptions. (Which is evidently not all that easy to do, but...
We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make digital parenting easier. Whether you found us from a TV appearance, Google, or a reco from a friend, we're so glad you're here.
