Cell-Phone Value Does Exist – Smart Phones, Mobile, and Our Families at #DadChat

Value at Walmart Family Mobile

Okay, who HASN’T opened their smart phone bill and flipped! Why can’t cell-phone plans offer value AND service? #DadChat on Thursday, August 22 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. PT/9:00 – 10:00 p.m. ET will discuss this fiscal and practical issue ALL families face. Plus, we have a solution with our sponsor, Walmart Family Mobile. Plus, we’re giving away TWO $100 Walmart gift cards! This is truly what I call a NO-LOSE – aka Win-WIN night! Not to be missed! Be sure to use #FamilyMobileSaves when competing for the two prizes! ONLY those answer tweets with both #DadChat and #FamilyMobileSaves are eligible to win!

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Just A Guy Wondering Can He Trust His Teens With Social Media

Sexting, texting, e-mail, Twitter, MySpace, NetFlix, Facebook, formspring (not a mattress company), “smart” phones, iPads, iPods, laptops, etc. That’s the world our kids live in.  And, it’s moving faster everyday! Can we trust our kids with social media?

For me, it was a library card, and a book, on a roller-skate, which my friends and I would use to go down the hill where we lived. Oh, we also played a made-up game we called “Mongoose,” in which we hit a ping pong ball back and forth with two books, the object being to do it as long as possible.  We had a phone, but its use was limited. TV was only on weekends.  And, there were just three networks and not much else.

That just ain’t the world no more!  With the recent spat of texting related violent incidents, I’m beginning to question what boundaries we parents should consider for our kids, especially our teens, with these social media devices.  My 16-year-old got into a mess of peer trouble with an impolitic facebook post.  It was stupid, but not that big a deal.  At my urging, he even publicly apologized (and in a well-written, not too self-deprecating fashion – I was impressed).

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The Best Thing About Getting Older Is…

I had lunch with a good friend the other day and the subjects we covered really made an impact on me, as I reflected on them.  I had just come from a lesson in using social media, where I’m learning the new technologies that are popular in our culture now, such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkenin, Smart Phones, I-everythings, etc.

While I’m not a total novice, I do admit that every time a new “thing” comes out, it fills me with dread. I face having to learn it, figure it out, and even understand it.  Frankly, I did not “get” Twitter at all until my lessons finally penetrated my middle-aged, failing hard-drive of a brain.  And that was also after reading “Twitter for Dummies”–and I’m not kidding.

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