screen time Archives | Page 3 of 7

Thinking Parent: Tackling screen time in your home begins with looking in the mirror.

A few weeks ago, my youngest was angry with me about losing her iPad privileges, and in her fit of rage yelled “I bet you couldn’t be without your phone for 12 hours.” We all know that the truth hurts, but to hear it out of the mouth of your child...

The Light Phone lets you ditch your smartphone. Is this what it’s come to?

by Kristen Chase | Cell Phones

A few years ago, we featured the Kickstarter campaign for The Light Phone, a gadget that was designed to help people separate themselves from their smartphones. Well, they’ve recently launched The Light Phone 2 and it’s blowing up Indiegogo. And no...

New study says too much screen time leads to unhappy teens

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

If you’ve been concerned about the amount of screen time your teens might be consuming, you’ve actually got some cause. According to a new study, teens who spent more time on their devices were less happy than those who invested more time in other...

Web coolness: Star Wars snowflakes, a super blue blood moon is coming, and more!

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

Here are some of our favorite tech links from around the web. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Trying to avoid too much tech when school is unexpectedly out? Bookmark these screen-free snow day activities, like the Star Wars snowflakes from Anthony Herrera...

A new WiFi booster that does way more than boost your WiFi. Take note, parents!

by Kate Etue | Internet Safety

My internet at home has been so slow lately, so I recently upgraded to the top-of-the-line WiFi option our cable company offers. Even still, our service can get spotty when 6 people all arrive home, and want to get online at the same time. So I was excited for the...

How to disable an iPad touchscreen using Guided Access: A huge lifesaver for parents

by Kate Etue | Tips and Tricks

My youngest child loves watching movies on our family iPad, but if your kids are like her, they can’t help tapping and touching the screen which then requires you to rewind, fast forward, or turn it back on 400 times. So when I found out how to disable the...

6 things that happened when I banned screen time in my home for two months

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

If you’re like me, then you do your best to manage screen time using myriad methods. In our house, I’ve done The Marble Jar to read for screens, and pretty much everything in between. And still, there are tantrums and arguments when it’s time to get...

Here’s what happened when this teen deleted all his social media accounts.

by Kristen Chase | Social Media

When it comes to smart phone addiction, we’ve done our own experiments with putting away our phones around our kids here at Cool Mom Tech. We’ve even used various techniques to manage screen time for our own kids and tweens. That’s why we were so...

NEW: The podcast that helps you be a savvier digital parent in under 15 minutes a week

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.