Technology has transformed our world so thoroughly that our kids cannot imagine life without gadgets. They expect to have access to these devices 24/7, but their expectations aren’t always realistic.
Picture This – Revamping School Photos
School is well underway and school pictures are just around the corner. The good, bad, ugly and awkward. In the digital age of parenthood, are you still buying them? Today’s school photographers offer retouching and retaking options as an attempt to retain your business. But even those extras come under fire. In the age of…
Insta-perfect Motherhood
I read an article recently about the rise of moms made famous by Instagram. These women have tens or hundreds of thousands of followers in the photo-sharing platform and depict an aesthetically pleasing side of their personal motherhood that Instagram users flock to. (And in some cases, they’re making a great living off of those…
5 Ways to Stop the Summertime Slide
Now that my oldest has almost completed kindergarten (sniffsniff, they grow up so fast!), I’m worried that he will forget everything he has learned. My lofty goal for the summer is to keep him learning throughout it.
If You Don’t Post A Picture From A Party, Did The Party Happen?
If you haven’t read Andrew Watts’ article, A Teenager’s View on Social Media Written by an Actual Teen, you should. As a parent, I found it helpful to read a teen’s take on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, and how teens – or at least older teens - use them for different purposes. (The best part…
Parenting in the Digital Age: Why Your Kids Still Need You
Parenting in the digital age can be an overwhelming task. How do we keep up? How much should we be involved? What’s appropriate and safe? What the heck is this new app? Why do they do that? When do we back off? Recently a parent asked me, "I have a child who will be going…
Generation Tech – Balancing Real Life and Social Media
Generation Tech, the manipulation of reality and a love affair with Instagram. From filters and air brushing, to color enhancing and reshaping. Who are we really and what are we trying to say? The average American checks their social media platforms 17 times a day and spends 102 minutes in a world with pretend friends…scary! …
Life Before Internet: 14 Ways WiFi Changed Our Lives
Whether you think life was easier back then, or better now, the Internet has created a sea change in the way we live our lives. Lets take a look at the way things were before the Internet took over our lives.When I was a teenager back in the 1980s, the Internet didnt exist. Imagine, people walking around without iPhones glued to their hands. There was no email, no texting, no Facebook. How …
Technology Terrors and Our Kids
Two events occurred last week in my area that are sure to terrify parents everywhere. First, two Virginia Tech students were charged with kidnapping and killing 13-year-old Nicole Lovell, a Virginia seventh grader who used social media to escape bullying after surviving a liver transplant earlier in her life. Second, also in Maryland, a 22-year-old church…
Does My Tween Really “Need” A Cell Phone?
My daughter, who is nine, keeps pestering me about a cell phone. As in, when can she have one. As in, so many of her friends have them (so many equaling three, and they all have divorced parents who want to be able to call them directly).