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Radio Show Recap: Women Empowerment & Unplugging

Tanya Schevitz of Reboot talked about the upcoming National Day of Unplugging coming up this March 6th-7th:

“The last time I actually unplugged for 24 hours was last year’s National Day of Unplugging. It’s hard.”

“The National Day of Unplugging is a reclaiming of the traditional day of rest. The Sabbath.”

“We’ve reached the tipping point of being plugged in.”

“Reboot is a creative organization that brings together creative people to talk about giving new path ideas to Jewish traditions.”

“Saying ‘I’m always plugged in, I’m overwhelmed by this’ is how the Sabbath Manifesto came about.”

“You have to set goals for yourself. 30 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours of unplugging can help you build up to 24 hours.”

“The message is to try to unplug regularly. Take a walk without your phone.”

“The goal is do what’s possible for you. I unplug when I pick my kids up from school.”

“We’ve reached over 125 countries. Last year Australia was crazy for unplugging.”

“Where tech is, people are feeling the constantly connected crunch. Be mindful of the people around you.”

“We’re focusing on families. 72% of 55 families studied, mostly mothers, took out their phones and ignored their kids the whole time.”

“Volkswagen shuts down its email servers at night because they want their employees to be present with their families.”

“We’re on a constant state of alert waiting for emails. It’s like putting pebbles in a backpack. It gets heavier and heavier.”

“If you’re multitasking you’re not getting anything done in your day.”

“For the first hour don’t even check email so you can get other work done.”

“People are so accustomed to immediate response that we have to retrain ourselves.”

“We have an Unplug SF Party with fake names and no job talk. You have to check your cell phone at the door. It’s all sorts of analog activities.”

“Say, ‘It makes me feel that you’re not paying attention’ when someone is on their phone and you’re talking to them.

“Unplugging is about balance, not a strict thing.”

“We recognize the irony that we’re using technology to encourage unplugging.”

“Ian Somerholder of Vampire Diaries kept tweeting that he was unplugging on last year’s National Day of Unplugging.”

“Favorite app is GameTime, you can get cheap tickets to local games.”

“Artkive is great because you get so much of your kids art work.”

For more information, go to Nationaldayofunplugging.com

Fashion designer Carrie Hammer recently made headlines again during New York Fashion Week with her ‘Role Models not Runway Models’ fashion show as Jamie Brewer of American Horror Story (an actress with Downs Syndrome) walked the catwalk:

“We’re expanding the definition of beauty.”

“We had the president of Edelman, the founder of Valhalla Foundation and of course Jamie Brewer to inspire thousands of women who have been reaching out to us.”

“Happening to have a disability does not define who you are.”

“Shift the consciousness to that’s a beautiful woman, not that’s a women in a wheelchair or with Downs Syndrome.”

“I’m so honored and thrilled and happy that this can change the world. I’ve stumbled upon this incredibly platform. I’m blessed.”

“Anna Wintour and Vogue aren’t knocking down my door but most editors are telling me that they had the most fun at my fashion show.”

“I love that it’s real women and that you can envision yourself in the clothes. I love that my show showcases that.”

“Diane von Furstenberg is making great strides to change the lack of diversity in fashion shows. Last year, 96% of models were white.”

“A Carrie Hammer woman is someone who is pursuing her dreams and her passion with no abandon. A second grade teacher can be a bigger role model than the CEO of Pepsi.

“When you think of a custom, bespoke dress you think you in the thousands but all our dresses are $359.”

“We take 10 individual measurements and make a custom dress to fit to you. It’s a unique experience.”

“In fast fashion, we focus too much on trends. But the most important element is fit.”

“Showcasing women who are empowered within their own realms shows that you can do anything you want no matter your circumstance.”

“Ladies like Jamie Brewer inspire the world.”

“It is a lot of work. Securing space, securing sponsors. Luckily we have an amazing team that helps me out with a lot of it.”

“Imagine 30 hair dryers going at the same time. You get behind on hair.”

“Our next show is September 10th, our biggest one yet. Our goal is Global Fashion Week. Paris and London are next.”

“We want Role Models Not Runway Models globally.”

“The evening before the show got a call from my cousin who said there were 50,000 likes about my show that hadn’t even happened yet.”

“The Today show reported we were the number two trending topic before the show even happened.”

“My authentic goal is empowering women and changing the definition of beauty. Every decision I make goes back to that touchstone.”

“What is your core mission, what are you trying to accomplish? Make sure every single decision you make aligns with that.”

“Don’t try to make the quick buck. It’s never easy money. Everything takes time and investment.”

“Focus on core values and don’t stray from that. Don’t try to be everything to everyone.”

“Tory Burch has such a strong brand voice and she gives back. The Tory Burch Foundation empowers women entrepreneurs.”

“I’m single now so Hinge and Tinder have been on rotation.”

“Just do it, it’s always going to be scary, there’s never a good time. Just do it.”

Follow Carrie Hammer @carriehammer

Make sure to join Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg next week on SiriusXM channel 111 at 12pm ET/9am PT!

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Radio Show Recap: Content Creation

90% of books are rejected by the first paragraph. Only 2% of books are based on the entire book. 30% of the Top 100 books on Amazon are self-published. Yesterday Randi discussed publishing and how to keep a captive audience with Ben Parr, author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention as well as Brit Morin, author of Homemakers: A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation.

Here are Ben’s thoughts:

“Content creators need to get the attention of the audience, teachers need to capture the attention of students. We all have to capture someone’s attention.”

“Adrian Grenier from Entourage, Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook, and Steven Soderbergh director of Erin Brockovich were some of the people I interviewed for the show.”

“The book focuses on 7 psychological triggers that capture attention. Attention is a stage process.”

“Becoming a life-long customer happens through stages, not all at once.”

“Automaticity: What color shirt should you wear to get picked up if you were hitchhiking? Red.”

“Yellow and orange are terrible colors for job interviews but great for excitement.”

“Compulsion for Completion: People have a stronger memory for incomplete stories than they do complete ones.”

“Asking a question is acknowledgement. We pay attention back. It provides validation.”

“It’s not just about you, it’s about them.

“Establishing your credentials and expertise can get you attention.”

“It’s an emotional response when you have something that physically exists in the real world like a hardcopy book.”

“David Copperfield is a fascinating person. He’s always thinking about how people perceive his performances and who he is. He’s thoughtful about his presentation.”

“The creator of Super Mario gave me such detail about why Mario is one of the most well-known and iconic figures: When they first created him they only had 16X16 pixels. They gave him a moustache to see his nose, overalls to see his pants, and a cap to see his hair.”

“It absolutely matters if it’s good attention or bad attention you receive.”

“You can really get bad attention and lose out on your audience.”

“Quiznos had dirty looking rodents for their ads then they went bankrupt.”

“The Credibility Rule: Having a network really does matter that gives you a level of credibility. Build your network. It’s how you get in the door for investor meetings.”

“Leverage your network to get you in the door.”

“It’s a relief if you come to me and not pitch me. Just ask questions and show your research. I would answer those questions all day.”

“Don’t go after somebody right after they do a talk. Do your research and show that you really care about the person.”

“I went to the mountains and to Thailand to write. It’s not a simple process. You have to allow time.”

“You have to stand in a booth for 4 straight days to record your own book.”

“I’ll be everywhere so I’m happy to sign any books that come my way.”

“It’s always valuable to be creating content. Branding, building an audience just takes practice. Being an editor at Mashable made me a better writer.”

“Establishing expertise is one of the most important advantages in the business world.”

Get the pre-order of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention at captivology.com

Next up, Brit Morin the founder & CEO of Brit + Co and author of Homemakers: A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation:

“I asked why write a physical book that takes months and is anti-technology? But I found the physical presence of a book is like a work of art.”

“Homemaking has changed over the last 50 years. From iPhones to cake mix to the microwave, this book is the intersection of homemaking and technology.”

“Each chapter is a different room and how you should know how to do the various things in those rooms.”

“Technology can do amazing things for us as we learn to be more creative. Because we’re so absorbed in our computers there’s a newfound admiration for people using their hands to make and create things.”

“Have fun in the offline world.”

“This book is for the people who think they’re hopeless with domestic skills.”

“The bathroom is about beauty, how to put on makeup the right way, or creative ways to do your hair.”

“Writing a book is not like writing a blog post. It’s difficult. You’re compounding everything you want people to know in one space and make it flow.”

“I had to keep updating the manuscript because technology is constantly evolving.”

“I found myself pregnant a few months into writing the book. Nearly every photo of me in the book is me 13-17 weeks pregnant.”

“I predict more digital sales, but I hope people buy the physical book because it’s a handbook. It’s so visual.”

“I’m really excited to meet the Brit + Co community of women who love anything creative on this book tour.”

“If you’re writing a non-fiction book you want to have some expertise in your domain. “

“If you have a social following and can write well, don’t think you can let an editor clean up your work. You have to write your best and let them clean up the grammar.”

“People will have a book for years to reference again and again. It’s a way to engage with a brand over the years. There’s a ton of knowledge that I wanted to share.”

“I’m really excited about the future for 3-D printers for clothes. You can download a design, scan your body, and this machine will weave together the fibers and create a shirt.”

You can get Homemakers:  A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation on Tuesday, March 3 at Brit.co/homemakers

Make sure to join Randi every Wednesday for Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg only on SiriusXM Channel 111 at 12pm ET/9am PT!

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Diversity in Business

By Randi Zuckerberg.

I spent most of last week engaged in a topic that’s close to my heart: diversity in business. Lack of diversity, specifically in the tech world, is a well documented industry problem. Thankfully, big players like Google, LinkedIn, and Yahoo are owning up to the issue by making their workforce diversity data public and admitting that they need to do better. This was a powerful, respectable move. Hopefully it will inspire other companies to follow suit.

The trouble, of course, isn’t just in Silicon Valley. In the overall U.S. labor force, 80 percent of workers are white, 12 percent are African American, and 5 percent are Asian. And, as I said in my last newsletter, companies too frequently fail to recruit, promote, and retain women. Many businesses say things like, “We’re a meritocracy” or “There isn’t a pipeline of good candidates” to excuse a lack of diversity. But there just isn’t any excuse. Moreover, diversity of any kind—gender, racial, ethnic—isn’t just a box to be ticked off. Myriad studies show that different backgrounds and experiences breed more innovative, creative, and productive work environments.

This week, I hosted the brilliant Star Jones in Silicon Valley for some one-on-one meetings with tech companies and a roundtable event at Andreeson Horowitz on behalf of the Professional Diversity Network, which we’re both on the board of. The conversations we had reinforced our shared beliefs that diversity is key to moving our economy forward. Here are just a few of the great ideas we heard:

-Host more “blind” job interviews. Let’s evaluate candidates on their work before we see their names, genders, and ethnicities. The concept was implemented in professional orchestras across the country, in which musicians audition behind dark curtains so they’re judged on their performances and nothing else. You’ve probably seen the same idea on NBC’s The Voice! Think of the talent businesses would discover if they used this tactic for hiring.

-How can we hire based on a series of characteristics rather than just education or job experience, so we can give the biggest range of applicants a fair shot? For example, someone in another industry might have just the right skills required for a job, yet you’d never find them if you were only looking at candidates with a specific professional background. Recruiting from a diverse pool of candidates yields a more qualified workforce.

-Create a corporate culture where people feel they can talk freely about gender, race, and ethnicity without being penalized for it.

-Remember that there are more than just four or five great colleagues to recruit from. Of course it’s tempting to build a team with people you know and trust, but think of all the incredible talent you might be passing up when you stay inside the box.

What are your thoughts on diversity (or lack thereof) in business? Do you think it’s an insurmountable problem? What companies are making major strides? We love to hear from you. Tweet us @dotcomplicated or email us.

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Why I’m Not Getting my 10-year-old a Cell Phone

By Abbie Schiller

One of the worst parenting mistakes I ever made was to give my 8-year-old daughter my old iPhone “just because.” She had been asking – begging – for months.  “EVERY other kid has one/I need to be able to contact you in case of emergency/I’ll only use it for travel,” she pleaded. I caved because, really, I was curious to see what would happen (and what do you do with old iPhones anyway?).  We cut off phone service so she could only text and I gave her a set of very reasonable rules. She was sincere in her promise to adhere. But my rules turned out to be too thin and things spun out of control.

 

Everything started out fine. It usually does. Within a month, she was texting friends (and possibly friends of friends) around the world at all hours.  She was playing video games like a full-blown tech addict, rarely looking up to answer a question – if she answered at all. Other moms complained to me, “my kid now is bugging me for a phone because your kid has one.” AND…she secretly set up an Instagram account and was posting pictures of her little brother and of herself. Not inappropriate pictures, but still! I was overwhelmed – the pace of social decline was rapid. Where was the girl I knew? I had to shut it all down immediately. The accounts were closed.  The phone was tucked away somewhere we all forgot about.  Sanity was restored to this child who was now free to play soccer and dance and hang out screen free.  Phew! 

“When will I get it back,” she would ask regularly. It was the monster we all wished we could ignore.  I would answer honestly, “When I am ready.”  She’s now ten, and will soon start middle school.  Every kid will surely have a phone (for real this time). She’s ready for the phone.  I’m still not.

It took a while for me to realize why. This isn’t just about her having a phone.  It is about something else. Giving my daughter a phone is about me losing the parental control that I am so used to and fond of.  It is about letting her go untethered.  She’s growing up and I have to trust her to make the right choices.  A phone connects her to people I don’t know, possibly creepy and dangerous. It creates addicting distractions, becomes an incessant time suck, and it connects her to access I can’t control (yes, I realize I used the word “control” twice). Can’t I keep her young a little longer?

As the parent of a girl, phones – for all the selfie, self-centered, superficial, fake, competitive, fast paced world they introduce – are especially concerning. Post a pic and hope your friends respond about your looks! Draw confidence from that feeling of being digitally liked!  Get a negative comment and let it stew in your brain, clouding your thoughts, your studies, your social world. The fake status and altered self-esteem phones grant you troubles me. How many followers you have. How many texts you get (especially during a conversation with someone else). Digital drama of a tween can be intense!  Gossip is so public.  Shaming is so normalized. She’s been so sheltered from that, I really loathe to open those gates.

A phone also separates her from me. This is the beginning of when friends become more important than parents and I just hate that.   It also starts a downward spiral on how she authentically connects to others. Not to mention all those potentially dangerous cancer-causing, sleep-disrupting EMTs…

At her soccer tournaments, between games, girls sit in two groups: girls with phones and girls without.  The girls without chat to each other.  They kick the ball around.  They walk around together.  The girls with phones stare down silently or they blast music they think others want to hear. What are the implications on how kids learn to connect and socialize?  How can this all be handled at such a young age?  Won’t this just become a constant headache to manage?

I asked one of the phone-addicted girls on the soccer team how long she has ever gone without her phone. She asked if sleeping counts.  Think about that.

I don’t care if I sound old by saying, “It’s awful!”

So here is where I’ve landed: I realize that as much as I’d like to, I can’t avoid this modern day reality forever.  The future is here, but I can stall her from it a little longer… “You know how all your friends are getting phones for their 5th grade graduation?” I asked my kid one day.  “Well you won’t be one of them. I want you to buy your own phone.  You have to pay for half the phone and the monthly fees. Then you will truly appreciate it. A phone is not a gift, it is an earned privilege.” She was pissed but immediately started figuring out how to earn $300 by this summer.

I realize that I can’t stop this technology train.  It’s coming for her. I will have to learn how best to manage it. A phone won’t be a gift – that just sends the wrong message.  It will be a carefully earned privilege that will come with plenty of rules.  One of those rules will be that family time is tech-free time.

As for me, I suppose I’ll need to come to terms with the connected world my daughter is growing up in.  I’ll have to trust and untether and hope that all the things she has learned about kindness and fairness (and time management and study habits) she holds on to. And I’ll have to remember that she’s a good kid and can use her tech to do good things as well.  One of which could be keeping in touch with me.

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Kidokey, the Best Way to Keep Your Kids Internet Safe

By Candace Derickx

My children are the technology generation—raised from birth with touch screens and wi-fi—the Internet touches almost every aspect of their life from education to socialization. Just like I monitor where they go outside of the house, I also police where they go on the Internet. I often compare letting them loose on the Internet without supervision to dropping them off downtown at 1am in the morning and telling them to make their own way home. Not only is it dangerous, it’s highly irresponsible.

So I worry. What apps are they downloading? Who are they talking to? What pictures are they sharing? What pieces of information are they sharing? And last—but certainly not least—what are they searching for? Sadly, I learned the hard way this past spring what happens when I neglected to monitor their search history .

And you know what? I’m tired. It’s exhausting being hyper-vigilant about every move your children make online. I’ve often wished there was someone to police the Internet for me and at long last I found out that there is.

Behold: the coolest one minute you’ll see on the Internet today:

Kidokey is one of those “I wish I had thought of it” inventions. It is seriously brilliant and I love that it empowers children to go find the very best there is online without me having to worry that one click will expose them to the very worst. Believe me, I know what a simple search like “boy kiss” can turn up on the internet. *shudders*

Here are some of the things I love about Kidokey:

The fact that real people screen these sites puts a very human side to this company and tells me they are genuinely concerned with the youngest internet explorers. They’ve already gone through hundreds of thousands of sites and are dedicated to updating their software regularly so parents can have peace of mind—on a continual basis.

Perhaps what I love the most is that it offers time management tools for my kids. I’ll be able to determine when they log in, ensuring that they are getting the right online to offline balance in their life without hearing me bark “GET OUTSIDE” everyday. I can ensure that when they’re on the web for homework, they’re really getting an education, and not an “education” if you know what I mean.

Have I mentioned how much I love this freakin’ thing? I’m chomping at the bit to get one and I’m not alone.

Kidokey was launched through a kickstarter campaign and it has taken off beyond expectation, showing there is a demand for this service. The campaign is still underway and for a $69 pledge, you will receive one Kidokey box with lifetime database updates—a special deal for early birds who support the campaign . I don’t believe I’ve said “SOLD” faster in my life.

All funds raised so far have been put towards production costs with a planned release date of March 2015.

I’m looking forward to March when I get my Kidokey and the weight of the world wide web will be lifted off my shoulders.

This post originally appeared on Yummy Mummy Club.

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The Women of Silicon Valley

Recently, Newsweek’s cover story was about an all-too familiar subject: sexism in Silicon Valley. The article asserts that women in the tech landscape are still getting funded at drastically lower rates than men, far too few of us are in venture capital partnerships, and Silicon Valley still suffers from a “bro complex.” The article definitely made some waves across the Internet, with heated responses by TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis and DominateFund’s Ben Parr.

While the story pointed out that yes, the culture of Silicon Valley is changing too slowly (witness last Thursday’s Crunchies Awards, in which all the winners were—you guessed it—men), it also made me want to spotlight the many women who are making enormous strides in this male-dominated industry. Here are just a few:

Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki, the founders of 23andme, a human genome indexing service that analyzes your genetics through saliva testing. The results are stored online to help you interpret the date, or share with your family and doctors.

Kris Appel, who started Encore Path. Her company developed Tailwind, a device that helps improve arm function and range of motion for people who have suffered strokes or other brain injuries.

Julia Hartz, co-founder and president of Eventbrite, the social commerce platform for ticketing and event management.

Rachna Choundhry and Marcie Harries, co-founders of Popvox, which bridges the gap between the public and members of Congress through the sharing of personal stories and legislative data.

Annalea Krebs, founder of EthicalDeal. It’s like Groupon for people looking for eco-friendly, local bargains.

Moreover, half of Lyft’s top executives are women (your move, Uber) and let’s not forget all of the incredible female investors in the tech world: Aileen Lee at Cowboy Ventures,Kirsten Green at Forerunner, Katherine Barr at MDV, and Renata Quintini at Felicis, to name a handful.

What are your favorite women-run companies? Any female-founded startups we should know about? We love to hear from you. Tweet us @dotcomplicated or email us.

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Radio Show Recap: Star Jones!

On today’s Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg special guest author, attorney, TV personality, women’s advocate and heart health crusader Star Jones sat in to discuss diversity in the workplace, safety tips for women, and how to be heart healthy. Here’s what she had to say:

“No matter how many times I hear those statistics, it’s disheartening to hear that women and minorities are so disregarded in the workforce.”

“When women are in leadership positions in business, the business is better.”

“Just adding one woman to the board of directors increases creativity and profit.”

“When you appeal to a particular consumer base it makes sense to have that consumer base as part of your workforce.”

“As President Clinton said, it’s mathematics.”

“To bring a new, revitalized industry to Detroit is great for the country and for the city itself.”

“Luck equals opportunity meets preparation.”

“I don’t have children, I consider all my friends’ children my children. But if you allow people to drive your children around without you being there I will call CPS.”

“We’ve heard the stories of how some of these new car tech companies and some of the vetting has fallen through the cracks resulting in dangerous drivers.”

“There are third world countries and rural areas here where electricity is not readily available but cell service is. Your smartphone can get your vitals to a doctor.”

“I’m a heart disease survivor. They had to take my heart out of my body for 22 minutes.”

“I got to plan my surgery, I got to tell my family weeks in advance only because of preventative medicine.”

“I’ve seen the nastiness and bullying that social media can arouse in people.”

“Threats made in person are considered harassment and online it should be considered the same.”

“The law has to catch up to technology.”

“People like their anonymity and on the web it’s the new KKK. They allow you to put a white hood over your head.”

“If you feel strongly about something, stand up and own it.”

“If you don’t have enough foundation in your argument to own it, then I don’t care about what you have to say.”

“I’m one of the faces of the Go Red movement. I go red all 28 days of February.”

“Going red is not just a fashion statement, it means standing for heart health.”

“Heart disease is the number killer of women, Americans, and African Americans. That makes me all three.”

“1 in 26 women will die of breast cancer. 1 in 3 will die of heart disease.”

“Don’t smoke, eat less and move more are keys to heart health.”

“As an advocate for women’s heart health I started to become identified as an advocate for women.”

“I saw there was a whole lot of potential in the NAPW. We had 350,000 members between then and now we’ve grown over 650,000.”

“The NAPW has over 200 functioning chapters across the country. We have over 200 industries as well. Not just finance or tech or healthcare.”

“We’re looking to connect like-minded women to create success.”

“Over 80 cents of every dollar goes directly to the A-list of women’s foundations.”

“I recently stayed at a hotel where guests and employees can take a 6 am walk. Anybody can start a walk.”

“Change your cafeteria menu to heart healthy food at least once a week.”

“We have to look for solutions. We’ve talked diversity to death.”

“The tech industry is lagging behind in diversity.”

“We need to emphasize that the jobs in Silicon Valley are not just reserved for engineers and mathematicians. There’s also marketing, retail.”

“If you’re going to throw money throw it in the right direction.”

“I applaud people like Intel who have made diversity an absolute necessity.”

“Last night at our power networking event I looked around the

“Blind auditions started for 1980s for orchestras because the judges could base decisions solely on the music.”

“No matter how good you are, if you don’t have the skill set, then you’re going to have a problem.”

“The Professional Diversity Network [PDN] found that the healthcare industry is doing ok. The health industry is really growing, looking for diversity.”

“I always try to choose a hotel in an area that allows me to have socialization in a safe and public location.”

“Be closer to the elevator, and not at the end of a hallway that takes you out of the view of the main walking area.”

“Be careful when having dinner or lunch by yourself. I tend to eat at the bar because you have someone watching you.”

“Look before you open the door and require identification when traveling alone.”

“The Uber drivers I’ve had are conscientious that you are having a good ride.”

“As it gets later in the evening I choose the more elevated service of Uber because those drivers have been more vetted than others.”

“When NAPW merged with PDN I had the opportunity to increase the people on the board. 4 out of our 9 are women. It’s the largest of gender diversity in the country.”

“Men stand in the master of the universe space. I want women to stand in the mistress of the universe space–ready, prepared and confident.”

“Not allowed to step on people, but you are allowed to navigate around them if they’re in your way.”

“There are so many resumes that come floating by, if your resume isn’t at the top of the pile, you’re not going to get an interview and often that’s not diverse people.”

“With Higher Learning we provide a sourced and diverse candidate.”

“My favorite app is Uber. I’m an OpenTable fanatic. I have fallen in love with Paperless Post the tech equivalent of a handwritten note.”

“I got rid of some games. I don’t have time anymore. But I kept BubbleWitch.”

Make sure to join Randi next week for Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg only on SiriusXM Channel 111 at 12 EST, 9am PT.

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Sherpaa Lets you Get a Virtual Doctor’s Exam

These days, you can ship a casserole across the country without leaving your couch. So why is it so hard to get a fast, reliable answer to a health question?

Kiss the waiting room goodbye with Sherpaa, a new digital healthcare service that lets you chat with doctors via phone, email or text message.

The company was started by former HR exec for Nike, and a Johns Hopkins-trained doctor who got the idea back in 2007, while treating uninsured freelancers over Instant Messenger.

For $50 a month, you get 24/7 access to Sherpaa’s network of primary-care physicians and specialists, an insurance card you can use at any pharmacy, and a designated, board certified medic to contact whenever you want. Have a chronic cough? Send your medic a picture and answer a few q’s (Do you have any allergies? A sore throat?). They’ll advise whether you should go to the ER, see a specialist, or just stay home. The team can also write prescriptions and help you navigate confusing medical bills.

Sherpaa is only offered through companies (i.e. individuals can’t sign up), but it’s easy to make the case to your boss for getting on board: Lots of businesses purchase insurance plans that make them pay for things employees don’t use (like unnecessary visits to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms). By cutting to the chase virtually, Sherpaa has been reported to save businesses up to $4,000 a year per employee. It’s no wonder big tech players like Tumblr and Meetup are on board.

Finally, the house call has entered the 21st century.

 

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When NOT to Let Your Kids Use the iPad

iPads aren’t evil. They are nifty little gadgets, I think we can all agree. After all, tablets have saved many travelling parents from descending into outright madness. It’s a fact.

Yet the key may not lie solely in moderation as it does in strategic timing.

New research suggests that using tablets to pacify our kids could inadvertently be hurting our kids’ emotional development. When you pass the iPad to stop your child from screaming the house down, in effect what you are doing is stunting their ability to manage and regulate their emotions.

So what may seem like a handy and effective distraction in the short term is robbing our kids of a crucial learning curve in the long run. 

Think about the last time you feel upset. You probably distracted yourself by Facebook surfing or by obsessive scouring (when she’s pissed, my friend’s stove sparkles!) But unlike our kids, we are mature enough to return to our emotional processing after these numbing tasks.

Kids haven’t yet developed those emotional muscles. They have to learn to sort out the big feelings without “masking them with distracting programs or games.” So say researchers at Boston University School of Medicine.

“It has been well-studied that increased television time decreases a child’s development of language and social skills,” said Dr Jenny Radesky, Boston University’s clinical instructor in Developmental-Behavioural Pediatrics. “Mobile media use similarly replaces the amount of time spent engaging in direct human-human interaction.”

And when you have a child with autism, as I have, those human-human interactions are like gold dust.

So the consensus is this: while some educational apps are amazing for kids (preschool and older), using iPads as tools of distraction can be detrimental to social and emotional development. They are best played interactively with parents and friends, or at designated times.

“Heavy device use during young childhood could interfere with development of empathy, social and problem solving skills that are typically obtained by exploring, unstructured play and interacting with friends,” said Dr Radesky.

Occupational therapists even suggest that excessive tablet time could wreak havoc on children’s physical development, affecting fine-motor skills.

While some studies seem designed to scaremonger, perhaps some of us need to be a little scared. I know firsthand how easy and convenient it is to hand over the iPad every time I need to get something done…

No denying it, tablets are a great tool, but only if we use them right. And it’s up to us to make sure our kids are using them right.

This post originally appeared on YummyMummyClub.

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How My Son Racked Up a $1,681 iTunes Bill in One Month

By Angella Dykstra

Last Sunday I sat down at my laptop to pay our bills. I logged into my credit card account to get the balance payable (We put everything on our MasterCard and pay it off monthly, because I like free groceries). The total alarmed me, and as I scrolled through the transactions, there were pages and pages (and pages and pages) of $11.18 iTunes charges.

My first thought was that I’d been hacked, because each of my kids have iPods and their own Apple IDs, but do not have my credit card in their settings. I thought wrong.

I called the Apple 1-800 number on my statement and after finally getting through to a real person, they heard my concerns and put me through to iTunes. I was put through to a lovely agent who nailed down that the purchases came from my middle child’s iPod. She walked me through setting up parental controls and then when I needed to log into his account, I needed his password.

He was sitting in the truck, because we were supposed to be leaving for church. As soon as I came outside, he started to cry because he had figured out that the reason I was worried about my credit card statement probably had something to do with the purchases he had made in Clash of Clans.

I must have added my card for him to buy an approved App, and then missed deleting it.

The agent was so great. She could hear him being so upset, and me comforting him, and told me to tell him that it would all be okay. She would get the charges reversed. It was above her limit to approve, so she told me to put the call on speaker phone and go about my day. It would probably take about thirty minutes. I laughed and told her that we were supposed to be heading to church — my husband is a children’s and families pastor — so we’d be late and that was fine if the charges were going to be reversed.

Five minutes later, she came back on the line.

“Angella? Good news. You’re going to make it to church on time.”

She then told me the total of all of the charges. $1,681.52. One thousand, six-hundred and eighty-one dollars, and fifty-two cents. I don’t know your story, but we cannot afford that. I’m beyond thankful that they reversed it.

Apple provides refunds for purchases made without parental consent, which is great, but the agent sent me a link about how to set parental controls that all parents should use to prevent having the heart palpitations (and lengthy phone calls) I had. The more you know, people.

Has this ever happened to you? How did it all play out?

This post originally appeared on Yummy Mummy Club.

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