Oh My Tech!

Your kid has an app you already said no to. Maybe you just found it. Maybe it's on a phone you didn't know existed. This week, we split that moment into the two conversations hiding inside it: one about trust, and one about understanding what really happens to the things she shares. You'll hear why most kids sneak apps (it's usually about not being left out), how to keep them connected to friends without the app, the Discord promise I wish I hadn't made, and how to let Snapchat's own help page do the explaining for you. Your task this week: put a date on the calendar to talk, not a date for a yes.

Resource mentioned: Is This App Safe For My Kid? https://familytechzone.com/is-this-app-safe-for-my-kid/

FREE RESOURCES: https://familytechzone.com/links

AI isn't just answering our questions anymore. It's booking things, buying things, and answering messages as us. This week on Oh My Tech, Sarah breaks down Meta's new AI agent, Muse: what it actually does, what it costs, and the Facebook Marketplace story where an AI agent reportedly shared a seller's home address. Then she walks through how to decide what AI can do on its own versus what it has to check with you first, and where to change those settings in Muse. Plus her take on Muse Charm, the cute keychain gadget she'd rather skip. Your 5-minute task works on any phone, no AI required.

Family Tech Newsletter: https://weeklytips.subscribepage.io

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That birthday your kid typed into a signup form years ago? It's now deciding who can message them, what they can download, and when your parental controls loosen up. This week on Oh My Tech, we talk through how Roblox, Discord, and Instagram stopped trusting the birthday, what the new App Store age laws in Utah, Texas, and other states actually do (and which ones are really in force), and the privacy trade-off when everyone, including you, gets checked. Plus, where your child's birthday lives on iPhone, Google, and Instagram, and one small account check to try before next week.

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Phone bans are spreading fast, and in a lot of schools they're working. But there's still a screen in the backpack every single day: the school-issued Chromebook. This week on Oh My Tech, we talk about why parents can't just "fix" the school laptop (and why that's not on you), whether laptops are actually a bigger distraction than phones, what to do when your kid finds a way around the rules, and the five questions that get you real answers from your district.

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Instagram and Facebook are getting new teen defaults as part of the Meta settlement: a two-hour daily cap, an overnight lockout, quiet school hours, hidden like counts, and more, all switched on automatically. Once they're on, only a linked parent can loosen them. This week on Oh My Tech, we walk through what's actually changing on your kid's phone, what linking an account really lets you see, and the 10-minute couch conversation that makes you the one who can say yes.

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A while back I sat in a middle school auditorium and watched a speaker put a handgun and a smartphone side by side on the screen and tell a room full of parents they were the same thing. Scared parents are an easy audience, and that makes fear a business model. This week on Oh My Tech, I share the three questions I run every scary headline through, including the one that finds the off-ramp. It takes about 90 seconds and turns a knot in your stomach into a plan.

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"Is this app safe?" is the wrong question, because "safe" is a verdict, and verdicts expire. This week on Oh My Tech, I swap it for four questions you can ask about any app in about 30 seconds: the Message Door (who can message my kid?), the Discovery Door (can strangers find them?), the Audience Door (who actually sees what they post?), and the Money Door (is there anything to buy?). They work on today's apps and on whatever your kid asks for next.

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Before you post that photo of your kid, the question isn't "is this embarrassing?" It's "whose story is this?" This week on Oh My Tech, we talk about sharing your kids online: why vacation pics are better posted once you're home, plus three simple habits for your family, the veto, the undo, and the handoff. Nobody's asking you to delete a decade of photos. Your challenge this week: Google your kid's name and run a reverse image search on their face before you touch a single old post.

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That fitness tracker sitting on your dresser with a dead battery? You're in good company. Most health tech assumes that having the data will change your behavior, and that's just not how people work. What actually works is games. This week on Oh My Tech, we break down the gamification of health: what it means in plain English, how a game turns into a habit, which trackers and apps do it well, what it all really costs, and how to bring it home so it feels less like a chore and more like fun for the whole family.

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I've spent decades in IT and I teach this stuff for a living, and I've still made the tech parenting mistakes I warn other parents about. Parental controls I relaxed for a vacation and never tightened back up. A family tech agreement I made the template for but never actually signed. A Discord promise I should have walked back. This week on Oh My Tech, I walk through six of my own mistakes, the three patterns behind almost all of them, and why patterns are something you can actually fix.

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