reviews

Alex talks texting

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

 

Okay - here's Alex answering some tough (and not-so-tough) questions about texting.  Please leave him a comment!  Have you had a conversation with your kids (or nephews/nieces, grandchildren) about texting, sexting and safety?  BlogHer  is matching LG’s  donation of .50 to dosomething.org for every comment on this post, so please tell me about your conversation with your kids in the comments. Or if you haven’t had the conversation yet, what’s holding you back? Maybe another reader will have the perfect suggestion for how you can get your conversation going. It’s important for all our families, and dosomething.org will get a $1.00 for every comment, question or suggestion.

 

Help me grill my kid about his Best Cell Phone Practices and raise funds for dosomething.org

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

 

A little while back I wrote about having "The Talk" with my son.  Since then, not only have we discussed sexting, cyber bullying, and why I won't let him go on the internets with his phone, but also his younger brother has become a mobile phone owner, too.  I've been getting texts like this:

    Thank you somuch 4 the phone!!!!!!!

 

    Ur awesome

And this one, yesterday when he and I were both sick at home with fevers and were just one room away from one another:

    Thanks for watching me, i no your sick too so i appreciate it

Sweet,isn't he?

So, okay, I *feel* like I've covered all the bases talking to my boys about how they should and should not use their mobile devices, but a lot of what I tell them is met with, "Yeah, dude - that's totally stupid and I would NEVER do that," and I'm not so sure they are really hearing what I'm saying.  And that's where you come in!  I need some questions for my teenager about texting that aren't coming from me, so that I can use those questions to interview him and get a better idea of what he's really thinking.

He's agreed to a video interview, which I think will be quite the interesting project.  I guess we will see in a couple of weeks!

Because this topic is so important for our kids and their futures, BlogHer really wants to get the conversation about texting, sexting and safety going – both with our kids and among parents. It will match LG’s donation of .50 to dosomething.org for every comment on this post, so please give me your suggestions on questions for my kiddo. Dosomething.org will get a $1.00 for each and every one.

Thanks and we'll see you soon with our little mini documentary!

On having "The Talk" (about sexting - there are a lot of "talks" aren't there?)

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and LG Text Ed

 

 

My kids range in age from seven to fourteen, which means I'm lucky enough to get to chase any conversations or worries about my kids using their phones in ways I'd really rather they not with a nice, wholesome chapter of Ramona the Brave at bedtime.  My oldest, at fourteen, has had a phone for two years, and when his brother turns twelve in a couple of months, he'll get one, too.  Honestly, I'm more concerned about them going off the rails with data usage and sticking me with a ginormous bill than I am about them sending X rated messages or photos, but I know time will probably cure that for me. 

I give my kids a high level of privacy, which is maybe different than what a lot of families choose, but it's the shoe that fits us.  My groundrules:

• I would only read their text messages, emails, or journals if I thought they were in immediate danger. 
• I don't go through their rooms or drawers or backpacks.  Well, ok, the backpacks I will open up if they smell from rotten lunch leftovers or PE clothes and the owner isn't around to take care of that unpleasantness for me.
• If I find a note in their pocket when I'm doing laundry I just hand it over, still folded. 

It's not that I've simply released them into the wild totally unsupervised; far from it.  Instead of monitoring them without their permission or knowledge, I get ahead of things and talk to them.  About drugs, about bullies, about sex, about what it was like when I was a kid, about how things are different for them and how some stuff is the same.  And, soon, I'm sure we'll discuss sexting.  We've covered some general things that do apply: assume that your phone (or your friend's) will end up in the hands of your classmates (or, omg, a teacher) at some point; remember when you were four and you looooooved to watch Barney?  You will look back on this time you're in now a few years down the road and feel a little similar probably about some of the things that are really important to you now.  And, that's okay, keep on loving what you love now!  Just, you know, keep in mind how horrified you'd be if the school bully had
texts of you pledging your love to Barney or Steve Burns; and never forget that you haven't exactly disproven my assertion that I know everything Because I'm The Mom.  

I think that once a young adult decides that he or she is ready to be intimate, there's not a whole lot that parents are able to do keep that from happening.  As a parent, I hope that time for my kids is later rather than sooner.  My kids are well aware of this, and I think they agree with my reasoning for the time being.  I want most to help them enter into this part of their lives in a smart, safe way.  My belief is that our history of respect and trust will give my children the space to approach me, even if things don't go according to plan.  Especially if they don't, really.  So, next time I've got one of them alone in the car, I'll likely find myself bringing up Brett Farve and Tiger Woods and listening as my son tells me how totally dumb those guys were being.  And then we can talk about it.

 

Each comment left on this post benefits DoSomething.org with a $0.50 donation!

 

Visit LG Text Ed , where Dr. Rosalind Wiseman explains the dangers and consequences of this new form of flirting. You can also watch Emmy award winning actress Jane Lynch share a lesson on the sensitive stuff kids are sending around without thinking about the consequences.   

The Jawbone's connected to the jawbone

As of July 1st of this year, it's illegal in California to talk on your cell phone while driving UNLESS you have some sort of hands-free device.  A few days before the law went into effect, Jenny was in the office with me and she helped me come up with a way to adhere to the law without having to shell out any cash:

This method wasn't totally unworkable, even though it made the both of us laugh until we snorted and couldn't much breathe, and Jenny snapped herself in the face a few times getting things in place.  I laughed with her, not at her.  Really.

Not long after this photo was taken, I got an offer to review a bluetooth thingy called The Jawbone.  I don't usually do product reviews, at least not solicited ones, but the timing of this offer and the fact that I'd just recently talked with a friend who told me he was getting one because of the new law swayed me, and the swaying was mainly because he said it was Very Kewl, but also a little due to the chance to say to him, Hey, I got one of those Jawbone things!  For FREE!  mwahahaha.  Because I am a weirdo, I told the company offering the product for review that if I decided I liked and wanted to keep it, that I'd like to buy it.  I didn't ever hear back about that, so I think I'll give this one away (maybe to my brother, because I totally owe him twenty times as much as one of these costs) and then buy myself a new one.  Which means, YES! yes, I do love this thing. 

It showed up on my doorstep in a tiny little box one happy day.  After I it charged up (the charger has USB possibilities, but I just plugged into the wall, old-skool style), I tried to turn it on with what turned out to be not-the-power-button.  Then I decided to actually read the directions. Ahem.  The set up was super simple.  I think I turned it on (correctly!), turned on my iPhone, and then pushed a couple of buttons on the phone when prompted.  Or entered a password maybe.  See?  SO simple that I don't even remember. 

The next part was not so smooth, but that is only because sometimes I am not so smooth.   I picked the most wee of the three ear piece attachments and the small cuff thing.  And, I got it on and plugged it in and started making phone calls.  And my friends were all, What?  Huh?  I can't hear you!  And I'd look in the rear view mirror and see that the part that was supposed to be all hooked up to my jawbone was just on the mushy part of my cheek.  So I'd hike it back up and hold it in place, because it kept sliding down, and drive with one hand thinking, This is better than just holding the phone?  Really? while my friends would say, Hey! that's better!

I knew I needed to make an adjustment to the headset before I decided to chuck it in favor of the rubber bands, so I got the original box out again and pulled out all my options: four ear loop things and three ear piece covers.  I was already using the smallest ear loop (there are only two sizes, but there's the for-use-with-eyeglasses thin version and the regular, thicker one), so I rethought my selection of the wee ear cover and went with the middle sized one.  I tried to push it into my ear, and it did seem more stable.  Then I flung my head around again for good measure and there it was, right back down my cheek.  Finally, I put the grande size on, and had a vigorous head shaking/flinging moment of truth.  Success!  It was still in place! 

Next I decided to learn how to use the mysterious sequences of squeezing the thing to turn down the volume and answer and end calls.  That's when I learned that if you squeeze it three times you redial the last number you called.  That was funny and sent me back to the directions.  I don't know why I resist.  I think it's just impatience. 

I've been successfully using the Jawbone now for a few weeks.  I must be doing it right, because on several occasions the person on the other end has been shocked to discover that I'm actually in my car driving, one time, with the window open. 

Even though I won't ever walk around wearing it as an accessory (it's for driving only in my fashion world), the Jawbone gets a highfivin two thumbs up from me.  I've got a week to buy a new one before my brother and his wife arrive for a visit. 

You can learn more about The Jawbone here, including how it works and what a Noise Assassin is, and also how swank it is.  Look, you can even buy one right off the internets.