by Christina Refford | Gear + Hardware, Kids
I know firsthand how hard it is to decide when is the best age for kids to have their own cell phone. On one hand, we want them to be able to reach us if soccer practice gets out early or they want to leave a sleepover at 1am, but exposing them to the potential...
by Liz Gumbinner | Internet Safety, Social Media, Tips and Tricks
Thinking about leaving Twitter? (Are we calling it Twexit yet?) With the big changeover in management this week, some Twitter users are leaving, some users are staying, and your choice is up to you. Either way, it’s good idea to download your Twitter data...
by Christina Refford | Best Apps, Internet Safety, Social Media
You may have seen this hilarious sketch on SNL that has a bunch of adults using the app BeReal during a rather tense situation. (if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch now! I’ll wait.) This sketch does a great job explaining what BeReal is, but we’ve...
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 | 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 | Internet Safety, Tips and Tricks
With the new year here, it’s a good time for a refresher on how to make strong passwords and help keep them safe. With phishing on the rise, ever-present social media hacks, and general security breaches and unsavory shenanigans, it’s just a good idea, and...
by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps, Internet Safety, Tips and Tricks
This week in our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group, we were asked how to prevent a Facebook hack, and specifically, if were any security measures to take that might help. And yes, yes there are! Here, a few really simple tips to help prevent a Facebook hack. They can...
by Liz Gumbinner | Internet Safety, Tips and Tricks
Have you noticed lately there’s been a huge uptick in text spam? So of course, I want to report it to…someone. Anyone! Turns out it’s so much easier than I had expected. Now when I say text spam, I don’t mean political candidates you’ve...
by Cool Mom Staff | Tips and Tricks
We’ve always said that raising digital natives, especially since we’re not digital natives ourselves, means understanding the role of technology in our family. But when it comes to knowing what questions to ask (and answer), well, that can be the...
by Kate Etue | Tips and Tricks
Parents of tweens and teens, we’ve got good news! YouTube is launching new parental controls specifically for kids in this age group. What a relief to those of us who see the value in letting them watch some of the content on YouTube…but who are exhausted...