"Hey Dad, when can I get a phone?"

“Hey Dad, when can I get a phone?”  

“Uh… I’m not sure. Why do you need a phone?”

“I want to play Pokemon GO.”

     I know, I know. Pokemon GO is soooo last summer. But my kids are still really into it, so I downloaded it on my phone just for them. It's been fun to play together as a family. Now, my kids are getting a little impatient waiting for me to come home from work each day to play. I knew it was only a matter of time before they popped the question.

     Even if your child hasn’t brought it up, it's a pretty safe bet to say he or she wants a phone, tablet, or computer (or all-of-the-above) for Christmas. Maybe you've been waiting until all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are announced to find the best price, but there are still a few other things we should consider for clicking that "Buy Now" button. There's a lot of great opportunities for your kids online, but there's also a lot of real danger. 

• What device is best for your kids' needs (and wants)?
• What will they want to use it for?
• How will you protect your kids from cyberbullying, predators, pornography, and all the other nasty stuff out there?
• How will you prevent their new toy from becoming an obsession?

If you need some help answering these questions, here's some tips I've learned as I researched solutions for my own kids.

SMARTPHONES

     My kids want a smartphone so badly. The only actual purpose they can give me for having one is playing Pokemon GO, but your kids might be feeling the pressure that "everyone else has one!" If your children are older and you're thinking about getting them a phone, Protect Young Minds has a great blog post about which smartphone is best for kids. The author, Nathaniel Holzman, does a great job of walking through factors like ease of set up, parental controls, and pricing. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but you'll never guess the winner of his head-to-head comparison.

iPADS (AND OTHER TABLETS)

     The nice thing about iPads is that the parental controls are the exact same as on an iPhone; they run the same operating system. The same thing goes for Android tablets and Android smartphones. You can check out the same smartphone article from above for details on setting filters and security policies for your kids with either of those operating systems.

Laptops

     Beyond parental controls, the reality is that tablets and phones are more likely to be used on time-wasting games than a laptop. A good kid-friendly laptop has a bit more potential to help them learn things like keyboarding, computer coding, and design - all practical skills that are a lot easier to learn on a laptop than on a phone or tablet.

     BestProducts.com has a great list of kid-friendly laptops for every budget. With so many different manufacturers and operating systems, laptops can be difficult to secure with parental controls. If you want to filter or block the content your child can access on a laptop, you might want to look into a service like Blocksi, Mobicip, or NetNanny (the one we use in my house). Without a filtering service, a child with an understanding of browsers and extensions can figure out how to bypass filters and protections on a laptop.

What Will you Buy?

     This is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the things you could potentially get your kids this Christmas. If you’d like to dive into more research, it’s as easy as going to Google and searching “best tablet for kids” or “parental controls for a (fill in your device)." Remember that we, as parents, are ultimately responsible to make a wise choice for our family. Our kids may not get 100% of what they want, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t what is best for them.  

Just make sure they share their best Pokemon GO tips with you along the way.

Web Catch of the Week: The Most Important Routine of My Day

     In our last blog post, Pheaney outlined the importance of establishing routines that work in order to help us focus on the important parts of life. This got me thinking about one of the most important routines of the day - what I do when I get up in the morning. If you’re like me (and 90% of all 18-30 year-olds), you check your smartphone within the first 15 minutes of waking up. What I fill my mind with from the minute I get up affects the rest of my day. It also reveals the attitude and longings of my heart. This week I challenged myself to answer these two questions:

How does checking my phone fit into my morning routine?

Why do I go online immediately after waking up?

     Tony Reinke outlines Six Wrong Reasons to Check Your Phone in the Morning in his post on DesiringGod.org. As I read through the list, I found myself convicted about the number of reasons I tend to go directly to my smartphone in the morning. I frequently check my phone for entertainment or to get the latest news. But let’s face it, I don’t need to know what people said about the Minnesota Vikings the second I wake up. Reinke also gives us three reasons why we need our mornings to connect with God. Think of what a difference it could make to start a day by getting into God’s Word instead of getting distracted by emails, Facebook, or the news!

     I also found an article on the tech website cnet.com that gives some easy steps to keep our mornings cell phone free. Even once I realized that my phone habits were hurting my morning routine, I still found it easy to rationalize immediately reaching for my phone when I wake up. The author, Sarah Mitroff, calls out some common excuses for keeping your phone near you at all times. One of my favorites: "I don't want to be out of reach in case of a late-night emergency." Check out the article to see how she answers that objection. 

     In our technology-driven world, it may sound ridiculous to move away from your smartphone. Take some time to assess your morning routine. Do you need some boundaries for using your phone? How would your morning change with a little distance from your phone? What could you do with your morning instead checking your phone? Let us learn from you by leaving your wisdom in the comments.

Web Catch of the Week: Addicted to your Smartphone

Addicted to Your Smartphone

If you are one of the 64% of Americans that own a smartphone, you are intimately familiar with the addictive feeling of always staying connected. Whether it's responding to a text, checking your email, updating your status, or posting a picture, there's always "just one more thing" to check. With smartphone usage so widespread, their addictive tendencies can be subtle (not to mention culturally acceptable). This week's Web Catch of the Week features two resources on battling smartphone addiction from Desiring God. 

Christina Fox writes about her experiences of being distracted by her smartphone to the neglect of her kids. She offers some solid advice for fighting against the distracting habits of her phone, as well as some helpful passages of Scripture to memorize and apply. Check out her post, "When Distractions Keep Us From Our Kids." 

Trip Lee is a musician, author, husband, and a father. He was a special guest on an episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast where he talks about his personal battle to put down his phone and spend time with his family. I really enjoyed the connection that he makes between reading tweets and reading the Bible. Listen to this short audio recording from Trip Lee, "Avoiding Smartphone iDolatry."