Food Fun Family

Tween & Teen Mobile Device Addiction #TOPsBalance

Lolli — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 17:59:55 +0000

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TOPs Balance for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

My oldest daughter didn’t get her own cell phone until she was 16 and had a summer job. We were the strict parents, holding out on getting our kids a cell phone or a tablet until WE needed them to have a device to communicate with US.

We knew that once we put a cell phone in the hands of our teens or tweens, we were opening our family up a ton of issues like too much screen time, inappropriate use, isolation and distraction from family time….the list goes on and on.

The Problem:

The older our kids have gotten and the more devices we now have in the house, the harder it’s been to keep control of everyone’s screen time. Just last week, at the beginning of our family’s summer break from school, we sat down with the kids and made a summer device time schedule. Each kid gets a specific block of time during the day and at night to get on a device.

I’m sure my kids are not the only ones that would sit around all summer long watching YouTube videos or playing games ALL DAY, every day if there were no rules set. And guess what? It’s OK to set rules and limitations for device use!

Those of you who are parents of teens or tweens will probably relate with me here: 16 hours is a LONG time to keep older kids occupied. We try to keep the kids active – and things like swim team certainly help – but since I still have to work during the summer, I can’t be carting them from one activity to the other all season long. Not to mention the fact that teen activities tend to be pricey!

It really IS a problem!

According to this CNN Story, “Half of teens think they’re addicted to their smartphones.” A new poll (conducted for Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents, teachers and policymakers negotiate media and technology) confirms just how much teens depend on their phones. The poll involved 1,240 interviews with parents and their children, ages 12 to 18. 59% of the parents interviewed said their teens were addicted. Fifty percent of teens feel they suffer from cell phone addiction.

According to NBC News, teens spend nine hours a day in front of screens and children ages 8-12 spend six hours. How do your kids stack up?

The Solution

This past week, as we discussed how we could make screen time a more positive thing at home (ie, something that’s fun and positive instead of something that’s draining and addicting), we introduced the kids to TOPs Balance.

TOPs Balance is an app, available for iOS and Android that balances mobile device overuse with bursts of knowledge delivered throughout the day, every time a user seeks to unlock their device. They’ve got a database of over 50,000 knowledge bursts and kids must engage with the knowledge burst to get access to the device.

I installed the TOPs Balance app on my iPad, because that is the device that the kids use most often. I created profiles for my 3 youngest kids (going in to 6th grade, 8th grade, and 10th grade). My FAVORITE thing as a mom about TOPs Balance is that I can see how much each child has interacted with the TOPs knowledge bursts and how much time they’ve spent on the device all day. When my kids pick up my iPad to play, they swipe to open with the TOPs Balance prompt and choose their user profile. Easy peasy!

Here is how TOPs Balance works:

The new TOPs unlock method has effectively reimagined a mobile device as a powerful and effortless knowledge delivery system. Whenever the user reaches for a device, TOPs delivers a “Knowledge Burst” — a 10-second infusion of grade-specific educational content — prior to launching the users’ home screen.

“Knowledge bursts” include moments in history to vocabulary and science, all combined with dramatic imagery and drawn from partnerships with content leaders such as Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam Webster and Getty Images. The iOS version of TOPs also features an “audio read” function.

Parents and users first customize the intensity of learning by selecting either optional or mandatory delivery of Knowledge Bursts. Then, users are prompted with Knowledge Bursts at every device unlock, thereby balancing their mobile device overuse.

The optional delivery method (low intensity) gives the user a unique prompt or persuasive option for a 10-second Knowledge Burst at every unlock screen.

The mandatory delivery method (high intensity) is a more dedicated balance strategy and requires the completion of a 10-second Knowledge Burst at every unlock prior to gaining access to the home screen.

The app is available in both the App Store and Google Play for $4.99. As an introductory offer, the app will be available for just $2.99

How do you balance your kids screen time and combat technology addiction?

What You Need To Know About Disney Movies Anywhere

Lolli — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 18:01:20 +0000

Love Disney movies like me? Then you’ll love Disney Movies Anywhere! This recap post is part of a press trip that I attended last week, where we met with reps from Disney Movies Anywhere. Although travel and accommodations were covered, all thoughts are my own.

What Is Disney Movies Anywhere?

Disney Movies Anywhere is both a website and an app for your phone, tablet, gaming system, or TV console where you can find all your favorite Disney movies as well as discover new ones. Not only can you browse titles, but you can also buy and watch your eligible Disney, Disney•Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars titles as well as enjoy exclusive content and special bonus features. Plus, you can earn points toward fun Disney rewards that you collect from DVD/Blu-rays, movie tickets and more.

How to Get the Most from Your Disney Movies Anywhere Account

It’s free and easy to sign up. Just create an account at DisneyMoviesAnywhere.com

Download the free app from the Apple App Store, the Amazon app store, Google Play Store, the Xbox App Marketplace, and/or Roku Streaming Channels Store

Don’t throw away your codes! Go through your existing DVD and Blu-ray collection and enter the codes. You’ll collect points for all of the codes you enter, and eligible titles will be added to your DMA collection! Note: look for “Digital Copy” on the case to know if you’ve got access to the digital movie.

Connect your accounts! I’ve been using DMA for quite a while, but I was excited when I connected my iTunes and Amazon accounts last week and had instant access to movies I’d purchased on those platforms

For a limited time, you can get Monsters Inc FREE on Disney Movies Anywhere when you connect with your other accounts, including iTunes, Amazon Video, VUDU, Google Play, or Microsoft Movies

Discover new movies and old favorites by browsing the DMA app

Enjoy the exclusive bonus content in the “Discover” tab (sneak peeks, bloopers, interviews, and more)

Connect with Disney Movies Anywhere – Website: disneymoviesanywhere.com | Twitter: @DisneyAnywhere | Facebook: Facebook.com/DisneyMoviesAnywhere

Have you used Disney Movies Anywhere? Which Disney movies would you love to add to your collection?

Travel Photography: 10 Mobile Travel Photo Tips

Lolli — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 10:00:55 +0000

Motorola sponsored this blog post. The opinions and text are all mine.

I was out at a rare photo shoot yesterday morning (I don’t “officially” do photography for clients anymore, but every once in a while I make an exception), and we got on the topic of cameras, travel, and capturing the best shot to preserve your memories.

As much as I love my big camera, more often than not I find myself leaving it at home and capturing our family outings on my phone. And you know what? That’s absolutely ok.

It used to be that the quality of a cell phone camera was not good enough for viewing anywhere but on the phone itself. Not anymore. I was recently introduced to the DROID Turbo by Motorola in Gray Ballistic Nylon….and Oh. My. Goodness. I want this phone and all of its 21 megapixels.

I am convinced that the DROID Turbo is the perfect device for capturing those special memories this summer. It has so many features that correlate seamlessly with my summer travel photography tips.

Speaking of which…

10 Tips For Taking Great Photos On The Go

These ten tips can be implemented regardless of the equipment or skills you possess (or don’t). Now…what will YOU be photographing this summer?

Ditch the big camera and stick with your phone camera. There’s something to be said for convenience and size. I’ve always got my phone on me, so I know I can always capture the moments that I don’t want to forget. The DROID Turbo not only has 21 MP, but it also has an impressive f2.0 aperture and dual LED flash, which delivers incredible photos.
Change your point of view. Take vertical, horizontal, and panoramic shots. Get up on a chair and take a picture from a higher perspective, or get down on the ground with the grass, flowers, and little kids. You might be amazed at what you see. Did you know that the DROID Turbo is 5.65in x 2.89in and weighs only 6.2 ounces?

Be sure you’re charged up. Before you head out for a day of adventure, be sure that you have plenty of battery power to get you through the day. Remember that photos, video, and sharing your adventures on social media will eat up more battery than normal use, and you don’t want to miss that shot because your phone is dead. The DROID Turbo has you covered. With a battery lasting up to 48 hours on a single charge (mixed usage), ability to charge quickly with the TurboPower 15 charger, plus up to 8 hours of mixed usage battery in just 15 minutes of charging….you won’t have to stress about missing a shot with the DROID Turbo because of battery.
People or no people. That’s the question. I recommend mixing it up. Take a variety of shots – some with family and friends and others concentrating on the scenery. I used to recommend always including a person in your photos, but I’ve come to appreciate the images of nature and architecture too much to leave those out.

Don’t pose every shot. Go for some candid captures of people in action. The candid images are almost always my favorites. They reveal my family’s true personalities, for better or for worse. Speaking of personalities, I love that the DROID Turbo can be customized – you can choose from one of three accent colors (blue, orange, violet). I’d choose violet. Which one would you choose?
Don’t forget your most important subject. You! I used to rarely get in photos myself because I was always the one behind the camera. Now, I take selfies with my kids or hand my camera over to someone else to catch a quick shot with me in it. My big camera always intimidates people (and the pictures taken by other well-meaning volunteers often don’t turn out) so I love using my phone for these shots. The DROID Turbo allows you to take a selfie with a voice command – such a great idea!
Take an info shot. I love to take a picture of the welcome sign, an information pamphlet, or even a street sign so that I know where we were and what we were doing during a group of photos. When we’re traveling a lot during the summer, like we did on last year’s road trip, and like we’re planning to do again during this year’s road trip in (gasp!) 2 1/2 weeks, it’s hard to keep track of what happened where. Sometimes, instead of an info shot, I post to Instagram and describe where we are and what we’re doing. That image helps keep me organized.
Take more photos than you think you need. My rule, now that everything is digital, is Shoot Now. Delete Later. Some of the pictures I didn’t think I “needed” end up being my favorites of the whole trip. It helps that the DROID Turbo has 32 GB on all models and 64 GB on the Black Ballistic Nylon model. That’s LOTS of space for my pictures!

Use a cloud service. Uploading photos to the cloud simply brings piece of mind, knowing that your photos won’t be lost if, heaven forbid, your phone is lost or falls into the lake or down the canyon view-point. Special note: the rear cover on the DROID Turbo is reinforced with a layer of Kevlar® fiber. It also has a water-repellent nanocoating that protects the phone from the inside out against an unexpected downpour or everyday spills.
Turn on video. Every once in a while, flip the switch on your camera and capture some video. Those videos will be precious in later years (the sounds and movements of children are so easily forgotten when they grow up!). The DROID Turbo can capture 4K videos and replay them on your phone or a 4K TV.

Have I forgotten any tips? What would you add? Now…where do you want to take the DROID Turbo?

Find out more: Buy the DROID Turbo by Motorola NOW from Verizon. Be sure to follow DROID Turbo on Twitter: @DROIDbyMotorola

Get your DROID Turbo by Motorola in Gray Ballistic Nylon with your choice of metallic orange, violet and blue accent colors at Verizon.com.

Motorola sponsored this blog post. The opinions and text are all mine.

How Your Phone Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Lolli — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 12:00:36 +0000

This post is sponsored by AT&T GoPhone, but all opinions, tips, and app recommendations are my own. AT&T GoPhone has not endorsed any of the recommended apps or non-GoPhone products in this post.

It wasn’t too long ago that I would have called myself a staunch New Year’s Resolution avoider. I hated the idea of following the crowd – both in setting lofty goals and in dropping those goals before February even hit.

This year I swear I am jumping on the New Year’s Resolution bandwagon with both feet – but I’m doing it for the right reasons this time. This time, I’m making changes for me and for no other reason. And I’m loving it.

During these first few weeks of 2015, I’ve realized that I have so many fantastic resources right at my finger tips. Almost everyone – including the younger generation – has a cell phone. In our house, we’ve got 2 Androids, 2 Windows phones, 1 iPhone, and one of those ancient phones that only receives calls and texts (I know!).

I love having an AT&T GoPhone for my kids because it has everything they need – unlimited talk and text – and everything they want, too, like 1GB of high-speed data and all their favorite apps and games. Having cell phones for the older kids has become a mom-necessity since it is next to impossible to keep track of where and when everyone needs to be picked up and dropped off. Staying connected and having good communication among the members of our family is one of the things we worked on a lot last year after my oldest daughter left for college out of state this past summer.

I made a mental list the other day of the types of apps my family and I use to keep ourselves on track with our goals (whether it’s the first of the year or the middle of the year, we’ve always got something we’re working on!). There is a lot of cross-over in apps that are available across the 3 major phone types, so there’s something in this list for everyone.

How does YOUR phone help you keep on track with your New Year’s Resolutions?

Use Your Phone to Stay on Track With New Year’s Resolutions

Set reminders and alarms. My daughter loves using Cortana on her Nokia Lumia 635 Windows phone to set reminders for doing just about anything. She just tells Cortana what she needs to remember and Cortana takes care of the rest. I have alarms on my phone that help me remember meetings and pick-up times. Oh…and when to wake up.
Speaking of alarms, one of my current goals is to get more sleep each night. Instead of only using your phone’s alarms to wake you up in the morning, why not set an alarm at night to remind you to go to bed earlier? When I get enough sleep at night, I function so much better during the day! If I can just master the good night’s sleep, I know I can stick with the rest of my goals.
Whether you need to remember appointments or blog posts that are coming due, use the calendar on your phone (or a calendar app) to schedule things that you need to do. I have a pretty detailed calendar with all of the assignments that I’ve got coming up, and although it changes frequently, I love being able to see the month or week at a glance to see just how busy I am. It helps me plan my time better.
Use a personal finance/budgeting app (like Mint.com) to keep track of money coming in and going out. Budgeting apps come in all levels – from the most basic to very the detailed finance tools that are connected to all your accounts. It’s so much easier to track expenses in real time than go back over receipts and bank statements later.
Track the food you eat with a meal tracking app (like MyFitnessPal). An added bonus – a lot of the food-tracking apps also have an exercise and water tracking component. I am loving my 2 newest apps – Weight Watchers Mobile, which helps me track all of my food to keep me on target for my daily WW Points+, and the FitBit companion app (available for just about any mobile phone), which lets me see how much I’m moving throughout the day when I’m wearing my new FitBit Charge (which I absolutely love!). I am so motivated to get at least 10,000 steps a day, so I’m moving a lot more than I used to. I love it! Last weekend, a few blogging friends and I joined together in a weekend step challenge. I was excited to come in 2nd place, just behind the runner! Speaking of running, my teenage son loves to run and always runs with his GoPhone so that he can track his speed and distance.

Most people have Facebook installed on their smartphone. I think Facebook groups are a hidden gem and one of my favorite resources! Join a Facebook group with other people trying to make similar changes. I’ve joined forces with some friends who are trying to drop the soda habit. We share struggles and successes and offer tips and alternatives. If Facebook groups aren’t your thing, then gather a group of friends who check in via group text or phone calls of through email.
If reading more books throughout the year is one of your goals, don’t forget the value and the ease of downloading ebooks onto your favorite e-reader app, like Kindle. Because I’m stocking my Kindle with books I want to read this year, I always have a book to read when I’m on the treadmill at the gym (and sometimes reading time is all the motivation I need to head to the gym!).
If you’re like me, you’ve got hundreds of passwords to remember. I hate remembering passwords (and I tend to be rather bad at it, too!). Add a little organization to your life this year with LastPass, which organizes and manages all of your 50 billion passwords (Ok, I may have exaggerated that number just a little). Instead of forgetting passwords on a regular basis and then having to reset and come up with new passwords (that you’ll forget in a week), let LastPass take care of it for you.
Maintain a good balance with your social, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I recently discovered an app called Balanced that helps you set and achieve daily-weekly-monthly goals for improvements in all areas of your life. It’s a feel-good app that makes me think positively about the improvements I want to make (instead of letting them weight me down).

Commit to a resolution, not a phone contract

Last month I introducing the new $45 a month smartphone rate plan with AT&T GoPhone, including nationwide unlimited talk, text and data usage with 1GB of data at high-speed. You can add an additional 500MB of high-speed data to this package for just $10.

Did you receive a new phone over the holidays? If you’re considering handing down your old device to a child or other family member, GoPhone is a perfect option because it’s compatible with almost all phones, including iPhones.

Maybe you’re in need of a new device, or you’ve decided that your child is finally old enough to have a phone. It’s not too late to save big on GoPhone devices! AT&T is offering up to $30 off 4G LTE smartphones through February 28, 2015. That means you can get a new 4G LTE smartphone for as little as $69!

Visit www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone.html to learn more about the GoPhone rate plans.

AT&T GoPhone $45 Smartphone Rate Plan

Lolli — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 13:00:28 +0000

This post is sponsored. All products mentioned and reviewed on this page are compliments of AT&T. All opinions of the products are my own.

It’s hard to remember the days before cell phones and the ability to call, email, or text any person at any time. Now, my 15-year-old can text me in between classes to ask me to check something in her room, my 17-year-old can email me from her college classes to have me look over a paper, and my 11-year-old can call me when she’s done with drama club after school and needs to be picked up. All from the convenience of a hand-held mobile phone. It’s hard to imagine being a mom of teens and tweens without cell phones.

It’s funny to think that I hesitated to get phones for my kids for YEARS (just ask my oldest daughter, who was the LAST of her friends to get a phone), and now I can’t imagine living without them.

My two middle school aged kids share a phone. It’s MY phone, but they have use of it, and it’s more for my benefit than for theirs (although they might argue that point). I am SO excited that their AT&T GoPhone now has a new rate plan available that offers even better prices for better service.

The new $45 GoPhone smartphone rate plan:

For $45 per month, the new plan offers:

Nationwide unlimited talk, text and data – with 1GB of data at 4G/LTE high-speed
Add an additional 500MB of high-speed data to this package for $10.*

*Data usage exceeding the high-speed allowance will result in reduced data speed of up to 128 Kbps for the rest of your 30-day term. Actual speeds vary by device and location.

Another GoPhone special: From now through February 28, 2015, AT&T offers savings on smartphones:

Receive $30 off GoPhone smartphones over $99
Receive $10 off GoPhone smartphones under $99

I love that there are so many GoPhone smartphones that are so affordable – that’s a huge plus when it comes to phones that kids have access to (I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay a bunch of cash for a phone that might be lost, dropped, and over-all abused by kids). But these aren’t “kid phones” – they’re smartphones that my husband and I like, too. But I also love that the GoPhone plans don’t require a lengthy commitment.

GoPhone Freedom Kit giveaway

To celebrate the new rate plans, I’m giving away an awesome GoPhone Freedom kit (the perfect holiday gift, perhaps??), which includes:

A GoPhone-compatible smartphone
Speaker
Portable phone charger

Enter on the Giveaway Tools form below and good luck! The giveaway will end on 12/12/15 at midnight, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email.

Entry -Form

Why My Kids Have Cell Phones {A Once-Skeptical Mom} #GoPhone

Lolli — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 21:07:58 +0000

This post is sponsored. All products mentioned and reviewed on this page are compliments of AT&T. All opinions of the products are my own.

I waited for a long time before letting my kids have a cell phone. My oldest daughter will not hesitate to tell about her deprived middle school years (which extended through a good portion of her high school years) before she got a cell phone of her own. My second daughter didn’t get a phone until she was about to spend several weeks of the summer (this past summer!) away from the family.

See, I’ve always viewed cell phones for kids as privileges. Extras. And in a family as large as ours, the extra cost of a cell phone was certainly one of my hesitations, though not the only thing that held me back from getting my kids their own phones.

I heard the pleas from my kids for years. In this age, everyone seems to have their own phone. As a digitally-connected mom who needs a cel phone for work, I am often shocked to see little kids with phones nicer than the one I’ve got. I was not about to give in to my kids’ pleas for a phone just because everyone else had one.

At the beginning of the school year, my 2 middle school kids (ages 11 and 13) got a AT&T Samsung Galaxy Express #GoPhone to share. We’ve nicknamed it the “House Cell” because it “belongs” to the house, but the kids take it back and forth to school on days that they have activities. I couldn’t be happier with our new GoPhone.

Why I finally decided that my kids needed cell phones:

They have after-school practices and activities almost every day of the week. I needed a way to get ahold of them or for them to easily call or text me after school.
We don’t have a home phone, so I feel safer if there is always a phone at home for the younger kids to use.
I didn’t have to commit to a 2-year addition to my cell phone plan. The AT&T GoPhone was a great solution for us. We can chose the plan that’s right for us without the commitment or any termination fees if the kids lose their phone privileges.
Taking care of a phone and monitoring cell phone use is a great way to teach kids’ responsibility (and sometimes, consequences).
My peace of mind. Yes, I feel more at-ease knowing that my kids can contact me whenever they need to. When I was out of town for 2 separate trips recently, my 11-year-old sent me dozens of texts. While it may have been a little more than was needed, I knew it was her way of keeping close to me.
Cell phones are great incentives. I use ours to my advantage. I still consider cell phones to be a privilege!

For more information about AT&T GoPhone, visit: https://gophonefreedom.att.com and join the conversation #GoPhone

To determine if a device is compatible with AT&T GoPhone, visit: https://www.att.com/devicehowto/. We have the Samsung Galaxy Express, which is a very affordable, user-friendly phone. We love it.

About AT&T GoPhone:

AT&T GoPhone monthly rate plans offer great value for smartphone and basic/quick messaging phone customers.
GoPhone is the right choice for customers who don’t want to sign a wireless phone contract.
GoPhone can provide you with a sense of comfort as it creates parameters around your family’s wireless plans, while also instilling a new sense of responsibility for a new phone owner.
With a smartphone, GoPhone users receive unlimited talk and text and 2.5GB of data, so it’s easy to stay in touch with everyone.
The auto-refill feature makes it easy to pay with a credit/debit card or bank account. Refill cards are also available at thousands of retail locations nationwide.
To view all rate plans available, visit: https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html

Do your kids have a cell phone? At what age do you think it’s appropriate for kids to have their own phone?

Grab the Goodies – Free App to Teach Kids About Underage Drinking

Lolli — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 21:41:54 +0000

Kids and alcohol don’t mix. Educating our kids about underage drinking is important to me, and so I’m excited to introduce my readers to Grab the Goodies, a free educational app by the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR). I was compensated by FAAR for the time spent reviewing and writing about the app. All opinions are my own.

The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR)

The underage drinking conversation is an important one to have with your kids – as soon as possible. As a mother of 3 teens (and two more soon to be entering their teen years), I know that it’s necessary to start that conversation long before they are teenagers surrounded by difficult choices and pressures from friends and peers. Neither my husband nor I drink at all, and we’ve been very upfront with our kids about our feelings about alcohol consumption. We’ve always felt like keeping the conversation open – and bringing it up regularly – is the best way to handle situations like these. We arm our kids with knowledge and make sure they know how they can (and should) react when confronted with pressures from their peers.

The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR) is a nonprofit organization that is committed to eliminating drunk driving and underage drinking by promoting responsible decision-making regarding alcohol consumption – something I can definitely stand behind.

Grab the Goodies

This back to school season, the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility is introducing a new component to the Ask Listen Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix program – a fun-for-kids, parent-approved FREE app. The goal of the new app, called Grab the Goodies, is to assist parents in their efforts to teach their kids to say YES to a healthy lifestyle and NO to underage drinking.

I love what the Grab the Goodies app does – it teaches kids to make healthy choices (and more importantly, WHY they should make those healthy choices) in a fun, non-threatening way.

The app is geared towards kids, ages 6-9, and teaches them through play about the consequences of the things they do to their bodies – the good things they do and take in to their bodies as well as the bad things. Playing is simple – I handed the game to my 9 year old son without any explanation and he was able to pick it up right away.

At the end of each level, players are given multiple choice questions about how alcohol affects their bodies, the basics of good nutrition and the impact of healthy decisions. Correct answers award extra points towards moving on to the next level. My son was so entertained that he never thought twice about learning about healthy habits.

Get Grab the Goodies Free

Download the free Grab The Goodies app from iTunes or Google Play:

iOS: https://bit.ly/FAARGrabtheGoodiesiOS
Android: https://bit.ly/FAARGrabtheGoodiesAndroid

For more information, visit the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility and get helpful tips and materials for starting open conversations with your kids about alcohol from their Ask, Listen, Learn program.

How have you talked to your kids about underage drinking? Share your tips and experiences in the comment section below!

Connect:

• Twitter: @GoFAAR @AskListenLearn and hashtag #GrabTheGoodies
• Facebook: GoFAAR and AskListenLearn
• G+: Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility and Ask Listen Learn
• Instagram: @Go_FAAR and @ask_listen_learn

Sprint Family Share Pack #ItsANewDayForData

Lolli — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:25:17 +0000

This post brought to you by Sprint. All opinions are 100% mine.

I thought the days of diapers and baby food were expensive.

And then I had teenagers. Clubs and clothes. Food and phones. It's all so pricey!

With kids involved in multiple after-school activities like cross country and drama, I've found that I need my kids to have access to a phone. Yes, I was the mom who put off getting her kids their pwn cell phones for as long as I could. But in today's world, it seems that cell phones are no longer a luxury – they're a necessity.

Finding the right family cell phone plan is a top priority for us, and I'm excited to announce the Sprint Family Share Pack – a new shared-data plan that offers double the high-speed data at a lower price than the other popular carriers. It's a $60 per month savings *with more data* compared to the other folks! It's the best deal in data!

Here's what makes the Sprint Family Share Pack amazing:

• For a family with up to 10 lines, you can get 20GB of Shared Data and Unlimited Talk & Text for only $100 a month. Regardless of how many people you have on your plan (2 or 5 or 10), you get a generous 20 GB of data. Details here: https://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/its-a-new-day-for-data-for-american-consumers.htm
• If you bring your current number(s) and activate on the Sprint Family Share Pack, Sprint will buy out your old contracts with a Visa Prepaid Card worth up to $350. No more worries about early termination charges.

More lines. More high-speed data. Low price.

We've got 6 phones in our household, and I've been feeling lately like we're paying too much, but I have hesitated to look into new plans because I knew there would be a hefty early termination charge if we were to move to another carrier. So I've stayed where I am, like many other cell phone owners, I'm sure, stuck with what is probably a pricey plan.

Sound familiar?

How many phone lines do you have in your family? How could you benefit from the Sprint Family Share Pack?

RAVPower Element 5600mAh External Battery Pack Review

Lolli — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 13:00:35 +0000

Note: I received a RAVPower Element 5600mAh External Battery Pack to review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and my daughter’s.

If you’re like me, then you probably have your phone on you at all times. I realize that not everyone is on email and Twitter and Facebook and Instagram quite as much as I am, but from what I’ve seen of teens these days…I am a moderate user!

My oldest daughter, Kim, has quite a busy daily schedule. Between school, internship and work, she’s always on the go…and rarely next to an outlet to charge her phone for any amount of time. She was frequently getting to the end of the day, finishing off a dinner shift at the restaurant, and finding that her phone was dead. Often, her phone would die long before her shift even started. It all depended on the type of use her phone was getting that day.

Earlier this week, I headed out of the house for a late morning event. My phone was fully charged when I left the house, but by the time I was on my way home just after lunch time, my phone was on 15% battery. If I hadn’t headed home right then, my phone most certainly would have died.

Whenever I am away from the house (and the WiFi) and my phone is searching for 4G, I lose battery power so quickly. And to add to the problem, when I’m away from the house, I tend to take more photos (and upload those photos to Instagram, of course). It’s all a perfect recipe for a dead phone.

I’m sure that our scenarios are familiar to many of you. If you plan on using your phone for any type of social media (or email…or pictures…) then you can expect your phone to die within a few hours. Power outlets are not always handy, especially in those situations where it’s most common for our phones to die. And so we turn to external battery packs.

I have used several external battery packs over the years, and my biggest concern has always been the amount of POWER the battery pack and HOLD – ie, how much of a charge will it be able to give my phone?

Since already had a RavPower 5-in-1 Filehub battery pack, I decided to give this RAVPower Element 5600mAh phone charger to Kim. It has been a lifesaver for her (and several of her friends, too!). I asked her what she thought of the RavPower 5600mAh battery pack and these are a few of the things she said:

I like that it has lights that indicate not only that it’s turned on, but how much battery charge it has left.
I love that it’s light weight and small – it’s a very convenient size
It’s easy to carry in my purse and charge on the go
I love that it uses the same charger as my phone, so I don’t have to keep track of multiple cords.
Since my friends borrow it sometimes to give their phones a boost, it’s really nice that you can use any usb cord to charge any phone or tablet (iPhones work just as well as Androids)
I love that I can recharge the charger and use it over and over again…and always have it as back up power!

Her only wish was that it would hold a charge for even longer (maybe for multiple phone charges?). A girl can dream!

About the RAVPower Element 5600mAh External Battery Pack

5600mAh high capacity enable you run 6 extra hours for iPad, 30 hrs extra talk, 140 hrs extra music and 2-3 charges for most mobile phones
Compact & Portable design ensures the perfect On-the-Go experience. Mini smart outside but giant and powerful inside
Automatic power off function in 20 seconds without charging can largely save the energy
Output: DC 5V 1A; Input: DC 5V 1A; 4 intelligent LED status bar indicates the current battery status; flashlight for night and darkness use

Do you find yourself wishing you had an external battery pack? Check out the RAVPower Element 5600mAh External Battery Pack! See all of the other products available from RAVPower.

‘Twas the Night Before Stanley… #TwasTheStanley

Lolli — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 12:00:45 +0000

Note: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Verizon. The opinions and text are all mine.

The number one thing on MY holiday wish list this year is a laptop. I’ve survived many, many years without a laptop (the last laptop I owned was in college…). I love my big screen desktop Mac, but I can’t take it with me when I travel…which poses a little bit of a problem for a blogger. Hence the laptop on my Christmas wish list…

Oh, wait! I forgot. My smart phone (which I have loved for a year and a half) has live a good long life and needs to be upgraded.

I’m dreaming.

My two oldest daughters are dreaming of having their own tablets, and although my senior is getting a tablet this Christmas (to get ready for college. Eek!), I think Santa might need to pull some strings before a second tablet ends up under the tree this year.

Between wishes for tablets and cameras and iPods and laptops, this *could* be a very techy Christmas. Seven people, all on their digital devices after Christmas? I can see it now…

And I totally understand Stanley’s predicament in this video…

‘Twas the night before Stanley…

And now I’m craving gingerbread cookies…

What is Verizon FiOS? FiOS is super fast, reliable Internet that enables all of the entertainment that connects people during the holidays. That’s powerful.

Rated America’s best value among Internet Service Providers.

Source: 2013 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the Internet Service Industry.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Verizon. The opinions and text are all mine.