Standing up to book bans, The Brooklyn Public Library is letting all teens access their online catalogue, free
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...
A comparison of 5 of the best audiobook apps. Get more reading time in!
Anyone else the escape of audiobooks while we find moments to ourselves? These audiobook apps proved to be the perfect literary lifeline for me while I was stuck at home with my young children during the quarantine, and are keeping me going even now. Because no...
3 free audiobook apps you need for back to school
School will be starting up soon, and that means my kids’ tech will be focused more on education than Fortnite in a few weeks. Sorry, kids. I’m going to start by downloading these free audiobook apps that let you borrow them (along with books, movies, and...
The Pocket app helps you save and read your favorite articles to you
Liz has raved about the Pocket app for years now, and for good reason. It’s a super handy app that lets you save your favorite articles, recipes, even tweets so that you can read them later. But, you know, how much time do we all have to read them later?...
5 apps I started using that changed my life this year
Yes, we’re all still getting a lot of mileage out of “there’s an app for that” because…well, it’s true. Especially on iOS, though Android is doing a little better keeping up these days. Over the past year, there are a few apps that...
Your Google Home can now read your kids bedtime stories. Not that you would ever have it do that.
Our Google Home can do all sorts of helpful things, and now it can read to us. That’s because Google launched audiobooks, which you can use on iOS, Android, the web, and yes, your Google Home. Related: This app lets you borrow library books on your tablet. For...
Watch Levar Burton read Goodnight Moon to Neil Degrasse Tyson and swoon a little.
We love Levar Burton. Did you ever listen to our podcast interview with him? He’s the best! We love Neil Degrasse Tyson. He’s not yet a podcast guest, but we’re still hoping, because he’s also the best! One thing we’re torn on...
iPhone trick: Turn any book into an audio book with a simple swipe
Here’s a cool trick that you can use on your iPhone to turn any book into an audio book, with a simple swipe using the handy Speak Screen feature. To enable Speak Screen, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Speak Screen and make sure...
The New Spotify changes: 3 awesome reasons to become a Spotify Premium member right now
We’re huge Spotify fans in my home and on the go (in case you were still wondering whether moms actually know how to use Spotify), and now with the big New Spotify announcement yesterday, I’ve suddenly got a few more reasons to love this popular streaming...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz
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.
Join the most helpful community for tech-positive parenting
Creating Secure Passwords: The Easy, Step-by-Step Guide
44 Cool Alexa Skills to Know
10 Tech To-Dos to Cross off Your List When You Have a Few Minutes
The Spawned Parenting Podcast. (It’s won awards and everything!)
Be a savvier digital parent in under 15 minutes a week
Work with us!
