tips and tricks

For busy parents, our smartphones have become our lifelines, whether it's the calendar that helps keep families on track to the emails, social media, and various apps that keep us connected personally and professionally. That's why it's …

If you want to know how to check your voter registration, we're glad you asked! Because you might have heard there's a pretty big election coming up, not just for President, but for 33 US Senate seats, all 435 seats in the House of Repre…

In April 2024, the total solar eclipse will hit our sky, and let's just say we're all pretty excited. If you've got the date marked on your calendar (or wondering if you should), check out these tips for watching the solar eclipse from o…

This past week, I received several emails "from LinkedIn" indicating that someone from Bardstown, Kentucky requested a "reset password" link in the wee hours of the morning. I shared this information on Threads and in our Out Tech Your K…

I know we're all still in New Year's resolutions mode, whether you're purging and recycling old tech , embarking on a family tech detox , or committing to more books and audiobooks and less mindless doomscrolling. But if there's one thin…

For so many of us, the new year is about organization and fresh starts. That's why we tend to use January as an opportunity to cross off a few tech resolutions off our lists -- or at least get a head start on some of those to-do list ite…

It's not an exaggeration to say that email management is overwhelming to me. As someone with anywhere upwards of 10,000 emails in my inbox -- many of them unread, to the dismay of my minimalist friends -- I am always looking for tips and…

It's always a good time to talk about how to best clean your phone and gadgets. But especially this time of year. With cold and flu season now meeting Covid-is-back season (again, sigh) it's important to know how to safely clean your pho…

This week's Washington Post article about the teenage boy sextortion scam by Chris Moody is all I've been thinking about. In part because I know a kid who was targeted in this way, and it was a terrible situation. But to learn that this …

Just one year ago, AI was not the kind of thing most families talked about over dinner, but today parents are wondering how to talk to their kids about the use of artificial intelligence tools for schoolwork. Whether you're concerned abo…

With back-to-school here, or just around the corner for some of us, I like to take the time to have reinforce some basic tech rules with my kids and have some important tech conversations before things get super hectic. Whether your kids…

Wow, I sound like a TV law firm ad saying, "you may qualify for a payout from the multi-million dollar Facebook settlement!" But honestly, that's the fact. I've popped my name into a couple of class action settlements recently -- general…

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 downl…

If your kids are using a laptop or Chromebook for their schoolwork (or gaming), there are a few simple things you can do to help them avoid tech neck . Yes, it's totally a thing (says the person who's on her computer most hours of the da…

For those of us with college students (already!), we know how stressful it can be for our kids to get adjusted to a totally new schedule and, often, a new living situation. We even included meditation apps among our recommendations of ap…

We thought it would be a smart idea to put together the best apps for college students, and especially college freshmen. After all, when parents send our kids off to college -- whether close to home or across the country -- you really wa…

I'm not sure about you, but I'm getting bombarded with ads on Instagram, whether it's in the feed or in the middle of my stories. Argh! Most of the stuff I don't really mind (well, maybe my wallet does), but there are things, like weight…

This is a sponsored message from SaneBox Whether that little red email badge is showing you 20 unread messages or 20,000, it can be overwhelming to feel like you'll never get to the bottom of it. Enter SaneBox . Trusted by TechCrunch, Th…

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 …

Fireworks are at the top of nearly everybody's list of favorite Fourth of July memories, but capturing the magic in fireworks photos can be extremely tricky. So we scoured our favorite photography and tech resources for great photo tips …

It took me longer than most people to get into audiobooks . Even while friends raved about flying through so many books on their commutes or while sitting in carpool lines, I had tried a few novels on Audible -- good ones! -- and just co…

With the big breaking news this week about the controversial purchase and privatization of Twitter by Elon Musk , a lot of users are talking about whether they'll consider deleting their Twitter account, for a variety of reasons. Some us…

After a little texting debacle between my 11-year old and her friends, I realized that maybe I wasn't the only parent dealing with cell phone etiquette issues. And, after asking our Out Tech Your Kids group about the annoying cell phone …

I've been hearing more and more people asking how to back up computer data, as they express concerns about cyberattacks lately. Which has reminded me to make sure that my own data is properly backed up too. Even if cyberattack fears are …