teens Archives | Cool Mom Tech

Should your kids be using BeReal, the hot new social media app? What parents should know.

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...

18 of the best tech gifts for teens — according to actual teens

by Liz Gumbinner | Entertainment, Games + Gaming, Gift Guides, Holiday Picks, Holiday Tech Gifts, Tech Toys

We know shopping for the best tech gifts for teens can be pretty challenging, but in our experience, tech is pretty much always a hit — provided it’s age appropriate. And we’ve got that down! For more than 10 years now, we’ve been in on the...

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),...

Our guide to the best headphones for students, from kids to teens | Back to School Guide

by Liz Gumbinner | Babies, Back to School Tech, Kids

We’ve spent the past several years evaluating the best headphones for students for remote learning, and while kids are back in school, one of the residual effects has been more online learning (and social!) opportunities. Whether kids are doing virtual live...

Will Meta’s new parental controls keep teens safer on Instagram and Quest? We have thoughts.

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...

Standing up to book bans, The Brooklyn Public Library is letting all teens access their online catalogue, free

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...

A parents guide to Apple’s affordable new iPhone SE 2022: Why it could be perfect for kids

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...

20 brilliant tech stocking stuffers 2021: Creative ideas that aren’t “AAA batteries” | Tech Holiday Gifts

by Christina Refford | Holiday Picks, Holiday Tech Gifts

We’ve had the best time looking for wonderful tech stocking stuffers that go beyond the usual. And by usual, I mean batteries. Whether you’re just kicking off your holiday shopping by going through our gift guides or almost wrapping things up after a...

If your kids are gamers, here are 8 tips for raising kids to have good gaming etiquette

by Kate Etue | Games + Gaming, Tips and Tricks

My teenage son and his friends are avid online gamers, so I recently broached the topic of good gaming etiquette for kids and teens with them. “What?” they asked, “You mean like when people tell you to go kill yourself when you mess up?” Ouch. I knew this kind of...

Alexa, surround me in the glory of Billie Eilish

by Liz Gumbinner | Entertainment, Holiday Tech Gifts, Life and Home

If you’ve ever said, “Alexa, play When the Party’s Over” then you’ll be thrilled that Amazon has just announced the launch of the Billie Eilish special edition Amazon Echo Studio and it’s pretty darn cool if you’re a...

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.