tips and tricks Archives

The best ways to clean and disinfect your phone during cold and flu season: From gentle cleaning to killing bacteria and microbes

With the concern about the COVID-19 Coronavirus right now, it seems like a good time to bring back the talk about the best ways to clean your phone, or disinfect it entirely. Also, your kids’ phones (ahem). Because while it’s important to know the best way...

NBD Google just shared some private videos in Google Photos to strangers.

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

In what feels like a game of “Which Site Will Violate Our Privacy More This Week?,” Google remains consistent in their issues with user privacy and released an inconspicuous email to users to let them know that some Google Photos users might have had their...

How to report spam texts and phishing. Because sorry, Amazon is not giving you $130 in freebies out of blue.

by Liz Gumbinner | Internet Safety, Tips and Tricks

“You’ll get $130 freebies to do a survey ELIZA,” the totally American English-sounding text reads. Every day, sometimes twice a day. They don’t even bothering masking the phishing link that doesn’t start with an Amazon URL. (Let alone...

The 20-20-20 rule, and why you (and your eyes) need to know about it

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

Every now and then I’ll spot a fantastic article shared by one of my Facebook friends, only to discover it was written a few years ago. Womp, womp. But in a few cases, like this Vice article about what screens are doing to our eyes (and our kids’ eyes),...

Instagram trick: How to find all those cool Instagram Story filters everyone else seems to have.

by Liz Gumbinner | Photo Apps, Social Media

We used to say “photos or it didn’t happen,” but it feels like 2020 is all about “filters or it isn’t Instagram.” You may have noticed folks you follow using wacky filters — or oddly flattering filters that bathe them in a...

Digital parenting tip: How to teach your kids (and yourself) to spot fake photos

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

We live in an age of photoshop and photo altering, and quite frankly, our teens and tweens are pretty savvy when it comes to pointing out (and complaining about) a model’s face that’s been de-wrinkled. But photos of women — made to look skinnier and...

4 ways to try a tech detox with your family that actually work

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

With resolutions and goals for 2020 in mind, we know that a lot parents are thinking about technology and screen time. Wrangling screen time is a huge concern for many of you (and us), as well as the members of our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook Group. Let’s just...

The top 10 Cool Mom Tech posts of 2019

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

We’re going into our 10th year of Cool Mom Tech and our 2nd year of our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group that’s almost at 4500 members! We know, we can’t believe it either. Every year, we share our 10 most visited posts on Cool Mom Tech. From tech...

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.