The tech podcast for parents who love technology, but don’t have time to keep up! From parents who are just starting out, to those with kids who are grown and flown, and even those kids who happen to be our parents. This is the technology podcast that focuses on using the technology in your life to make it better! Oh My Tech will bring you interviews with folks using tech in unique ways, the latest news or trending topics, and maybe even help you find something to watch. Join Sarah Kimmel as she breaks down tech in ways that anyone can understand! Learn more at https://familytech.biz
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August 11, 2026Episode 2514 min
6 Tech Parenting Mistakes I Made, Even Though I Teach This For a Living
I know how to check my son's browsing history. I have shown thousands of people exactly how to do it. And I have let months go by without checking it once.
This episode is not a tutorial. It is the honest version. Six tech parenting decisions I would make differently, from the parental controls I loosened for a trip and never fixed, to the Discord promise I kept when my gut said not to, to the consequence I announced and never enforced.
They all fall into three patterns: the knowledge gap, the exhaustion trap, and the commitment trap. I walk through each one, why it happens to basically every parent, and the single fix that actually helps.
If you have been quietly carrying some tech regrets of your own, this one is for you. No fear, no judgment, no doom and gloom. Just a conversation about being human at this.
In this episode:
The three patterns behind nearly every tech parenting mistake
Why temporary settings changes become permanent, and the calendar fix
What a family tech agreement actually does, and why I still do not have one signed
How to walk back a promise about an app without breaking your kid's trust
Why fitting the punishment to the crime beats going nuclear every time
Streaks, resets, and why I do not set New Year's resolutions
Free family tech agreement template: http://familytechzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/techcontract.pdf
Subscribe to Oh My Tech for honest, practical family technology guidance every week.
August 4, 2026Episode 2622 min
Lurking Counts! How to Find “Your People” Online
I've been finding my people online since 1994, and I've never once gone looking for a community on purpose. Once I was looking for a boy. Once I was looking for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
This episode is what actually works instead: how to tell what a room is really for before you invest six months in it, why you only ever need four usernames, and why lurking counts — for months, for years, however long you need.
Plus the two Facebook groups for the same water bottle that explain everything, and the night my smart lights kept turning off on my husband's game night.
July 28, 2026Episode 2513 min
Your Kid’s School Just Banned Phones. Now What?
Twenty-six states now require schools to ban or limit phones, and no two are
doing it the same way. What your state actually requires, what happens in an
emergency, and how to talk to your kid before day one.
Covered: the three tiers of state law and where yours sits, why enforcement
varies school to school, the emergency plan most families skip (a family code
word and a pre-chosen meeting spot), what kids are already doing to get around
the pouches, and where I land on whether any of this will work.
This week's challenge: call your school — not the district — and ask how
enforcement and emergency contact actually work. Then pick your code word and
your meeting spot with your kid.
Less fear, more capability. Family Tech powering down.
July 21, 2026Episode 2416 min
Moving Beyond Parental Controls: The Graduation Plan
So, your kid is officially a teenager now.
You know exactly what that means: the parental controls that used to work flawlessly are suddenly useless. Your teen is fighting you on every single restriction; they’ve probably discovered at least three workarounds you didn’t know existed, and phone time has turned into a daily household battle.
If you are exhausted from playing the role of the “screen time police,” I have some great news for you. We aren’t going to talk about how to lock down your teen’s phone today. Instead, we are talking about how to responsibly unlock it.
Welcome to The Graduation Plan—a three-stage framework designed to transition you from a tech warden to the person your teenager actually comes to for tech advice.
Why Strict Parental Controls Backfire
Before we look at the plan, let’s talk about why staying in “hard lockdown mode” forever completely backfires.
Think of parental controls like training wheels. They are incredibly useful when your kid is first learning to ride, but if those training wheels are still attached when they are 17 and heading off to college, we have a problem. The goal was never to master the training wheels; the goal was teaching them how to ride the bike independently.
💡 The Reality Check: When a teenager finds a workaround to a parental control app, it is almost never a tech problem—it is a communication gap.
If you win every single argument using the “my house, my rules” approach, you might still lose the bigger battle. If they leave your house at 18 having only behaved because they were digitally blocked, they will head to college with zero practice managing their own digital lives. It’s just like handing a freshman a credit card when they’ve never been taught how to budget. They will run up debt.
We need to let them practice managing their screen time while we are still nearby to guide them.
Stage 1: The Audit & The Digital Peace Treaty
The first stage is all about opening a real conversation instead of a negotiation where both sides already know how it’s going to end.
The Opening Move
Words matter here. Do not say, “We need to talk about your screen time.” That lands about as well as announcing a surprise dentist appointment.
Instead, try this exact framing:
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been really responsible with [pick something specific: e.g., texting me back, driving safely, turning off your game when asked]. I want to start moving away from being the screen time police and try a more collaborative approach. What is one setting on your phone that drives you the absolute craziest?”
By opening with a specific positive and handing them the floor, they will start talking instead of defending.
The Data Audit
Once they tell you what bothers them, have them pull up their Screen Time (iOS) or Digital Wellbeing (Android). Look at it together.
Rule #1: No judgment, just data.
Rule #2: Let them speak first. Ask, “What does this report tell you about your phone usage?” You’ll be surprised at what they notice when they aren’t being lectured.
Set Your Red Lines
Negotiate on the time limits, but establish your Red Lines—the non-negotiables that keep them safe.
Instead of saying…
Say this instead…
“I require administrative access to all your social media credentials so I can spy on you.”
“I’m totally open to relaxing time limits, but I need your phone password. Not to spy, but so I can help you instantly if you ever get hacked or if someone starts bothering you online.”
The Goal: Privacy can start opening up, but Safety stays.
Once you agree on the changes, put them in writing. Think of this as a Digital Peace Treaty—an amendment to your family’s original technology contract.
Stage 2: The Beta Test
Now that you’ve identified the pain points and established the rules, it’s time for The Beta Test. Because we’re tech nerds here, everything gets a software spin!
Pick the one restriction your teen cares about the most and temporarily remove it.
How to Frame It:
“This isn’t a permanent change. This is a 14-day beta test.”
“If your grades stay up, you aren’t a zombie in the morning, and you’re still present at dinner, the change stays.”
“If things slide, we hit reset for two weeks to fix the bugs, and then we try the beta test again. Deal?”
What if the Beta Test Fails?
It might fail the first time, and that is completely okay. Do not treat a failed beta test as a punishment. Avoid the “I told you so” moment.
Instead, view it as a system bug. Sit down, look at what went wrong (e.g., staying up until 1 AM), recalibrate the parameters, and agree to try the beta test again in two weeks or a month. Going back to a restriction isn’t a failure—it’s just recalibration.
Stage 3: Becoming the Consultant
When the beta tests succeed, your job description officially changes. You are no longer the Gatekeeper; you are now the Tech Consultant.
This means moving away from hard app blocks and moving toward collaborative check-ins. You stay informed without staying locked down.
Tools for the Consultant Phase:
Bark: Instead of blocking everything, Bark monitors for severe issues like cyberbullying, predatory behavior, or self-harm language. It’s not a warden; it’s a smoke alarm that only alerts you when there’s actual smoke.
Ecosystem Activity Reports: Use Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link only for the weekly activity view, not the locking features.
Set up a 10-minute weekly tech check-in. Sit down, look at the reports together, ask how their schedule is going, and keep the conversation casual and lecture-free.
By 16 or 17 years old, the goal is for your teenager to be setting their own limits while you simply review them together. When they turn 18, they will have had a year or two of solid practice managing their digital well-being with a built-in safety net.
Letting go is incredibly scary—trust me, I have a 17 and a 20-year-old—but the risk of holding on too long is far greater than the risk of letting go with a structured plan.
Download the peace treaty template by clicking here
July 14, 2026Episode 2320 min
How to Secure Your Family Home Network: Cyber Safety Guide
Your digital home has grown far beyond a single computer and password—every smart TV, kids' tablet, and connected device represents a potential "window" left cracked open for modern, automated cybercriminals to exploit. This guide breaks down the four biggest digital vulnerabilities families face today: password reuse, phishing/smishing scams, unchanged factory settings on smart gadgets, and delayed software updates.
By taking just ten minutes tonight to implement baseline defenses—like setting up a password manager, enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your primary email, automating software patches, and avoiding public Wi-Fi—you can lock down your family's network, protect your parents' devices, and ensure your kids explore technology safely without needing a degree in computer science.
July 7, 2026Episode 2218 min
Tech Safety for Aging Parents: Protection Without Micromanaging
This episode addresses the challenging "role reversal" of the sandwich generation, exploring how parents can protect their aging seniors from sophisticated digital scams and tech fatigue without stripping away their dignity. By breaking down the subtle red flags of cognitive decline—such as financial anomalies, secretive device behavior, and an uptick in support requests—the post offers actionable, collaborative strategies to co-manage their digital footprint. Through the deployment of practical tools like password managers, simplified hardware, and a clever AI-proofing "family password" system, it empowers tech-loving adults to build a protective digital firewall around their parents out of love, not control.
Download the companion guide to help you secure a Senior's Device - http://familytechzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/resource_guide_secure_senior_device.pdf
June 30, 2026Episode 2117 min
How to Backup Family Photos Safely: Step-by-Step Guide
In this episode, we break down why relying solely on a single external hard drive or standard cloud syncing puts your family’s precious photos and videos at serious risk of "digital decay" or sudden deletion.
Key Takeaways:
The Hard Drive Trap: Hard drives have mechanical parts that will seize up and die if left in a closet without power for too long—just like an unused car.
The Cloud Illusion: Cloud storage isn't a magical sky; it's a rented digital apartment. If you stop paying, or if automated algorithms mistakenly flag your account, your data can vanish instantly.
Syncing vs. Saving: Syncing is a mirror (delete on your phone, it deletes in the cloud). Saving is a photocopy (a permanent, separate backup).
The Family Tech Solution: We introduce the 2-2 Rule (2 copies, 2 different platforms) and explain why a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device like a Synology is the ultimate, subscription-free way to protect your memories and even stream your home videos to any TV in the house.
June 23, 2026Episode 2014 min
Digital Parenting vs. Spying: How to Respect Kids’ Privacy
Managing child digital privacy is becoming a daily challenge. Learn how to balance parental oversight with your child's need for personal space.
Finding the right approach to child digital privacy requires understanding that while total anonymity online is rare, children still need a sense of autonomy. This discussion focuses on the tension between protecting your kids and respecting their boundaries. If you struggle with knowing how much monitoring is too much, this breakdown helps clarify where to draw the line.
We cover practical strategies for effective parental oversight without crossing into invasive territory. You will walk away with a clearer perspective on how to maintain safety while building trust. Implementing these digital parenting tips allows families to navigate the complexities of online life more confidently. Whether your kids are just starting to use devices or are already active online, establishing these internet privacy boundaries early can prevent future conflicts.
By adjusting your strategy regarding online safety for kids, you can create a healthier environment at home. These insights are designed to help you protect your family while preserving the parent-child relationship.
Subscribe for weekly digital parenting breakdowns, and let us know in the comments: what is the hardest part about setting online rules for your children?
June 15, 2026Episode 1912 min
How to Audit Family Subscriptions & Cut Unwanted Monthly Costs
Most people think they spend $80 a month on subscriptions, but the actual cost is over $200. Learn how to audit your bills.
Many of us lose track of recurring charges, leading to subscription spending that silently drains our bank accounts. This episode breaks down why we underestimate our monthly costs and provides a clear strategy to identify wasted money in your budget. If you feel like your finances are slipping away through small, automated payments, this guide is for you.
We examine the psychological habits that lead to subscription bloat and offer practical steps to cancel unused services effectively. By tracking your recurring expenses, you can take control of your cash flow and keep more of your paycheck. Stop letting auto-renewals dictate your savings goals and start managing your subscription spending today.
Subscribe for weekly tech breakdowns, and comment below with the one subscription you find hardest to cancel.
June 8, 2026Episode 1815 min
What Is the Right Age for a Kid to Get a Smartphone?
We tackle a common question for parents: when is a child truly ready for a phone? It's not about age, but rather a child's and family's readiness level, addressing concerns like phone addiction. This episode offers parenting advice to help families navigate screentime and promote healthy child behavior. We discuss signs of readiness and when a digital detox might be beneficial.
Resources available at https://familytech.biz/tools
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