Tech Savvy Mama

Parenting in the Digital Age

8 Tech Resolutions for 2025

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January is almost over but it doesn’t mean it’s too late to make some tech resolutions for 2025.

Maybe you want to evaluate your social media platforms to figure out where you want to spend your time to preserve your digital wellbeing. Perhaps it’s time to have another conversation with your kids about screen time and consider new rules since they’ve gotten older. It’s possible this is the year you realize the value of AI learning tools to reduce test anxiety and homework stress.

8 Tech Resolutions for 2025

Whatever your digital goals are, I’m here to help! Any of these 8 tech resolutions for 2025 make a great starting point for change you want to make in the coming months.

Evaluate Your Social Media Platforms

With all the tech bros seated in the Capitol Rotunda for Inauguration, it makes me wonder about the future of technology. I’ve always believed that there are benefits and drawbacks to technology but now it’s important to be more critical about the policies of the social media platforms you’re using. Consider who is running it, their relationship with the current administration, what information you might be giving up, and whether it’s worth it to you to continue using it.

Maybe this means you’ll delete your account, take a break, or jump to a different platform. Regardless of what you decide, it’s a personal choice. As someone who has seen lots of social platforms come and go since I started this blog in 2008, whatever you decide will be ok. There will always be something else!

If you’re curious, I’m on Facebook and Instagram and have Threads and Bluesky accounts but haven’t had the bandwidth to fully embrace them yet.

Take Charge of Your Digital Wellbeing

In the name of preserving your mental health, now is a great time to take charge of your digital wellbeing. Last week I spoke to parents of middle schoolers at a PTA meeting and one of their biggest challenges was unplugging and getting their kids off screens.

As parents who want to get our kids to unplug more, it’s critical that we take charge of our digital lives. There’s always another email to answer, texts that come in at all hours, and social media platforms that keep us scrolling by design. We have good intentions about disconnecting, often talking to our kids about digital safety and screen time, but how much are we really unplugging?

Examining your relationship with technology is an important first step in taking charge of your digital life. Start with Google’s Digital Wellbeing site. Their free Self-Reflection Tool features 8 questions to help you evaluate your current experience with technology.

Some past posts that might help:

Get Your Kids the Academic and Mental Health Help They Need

With the end of the semester upon us, it’s a good idea to take stock of how your kids are really doing both academically and mentally. We want our kids to know that we love and support them so now is the time to encourage them to get them the academic help they need. If you notice their mental health is suffering, there is no shame in seeking help from a professional, such as a therapist.

Remind your child that their teachers want to help. Since it’s not always easy for kids to approach their teachers, free AI online learning tools like Brainly can support academic needs by providing free, personalized, on-demand help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Founded in 2009, Brainly saves parents from the inevitable late nights of Dad trying to teach math at the kitchen counter and the stress and anxiety kids feel when confronted with homework challenges. Brainly’s smart AI provides expert-verified homework help and support customized to each student. Since help is available 24/7, Brainly is like having an on-demand tutor at the precise moment of need, via a format that works best for your child. 

I love Brainly because it can help clarify confusing writing prompts and questions, demonstrate how to do a step they’ve forgotten in a multi-step math problem, and do a deeper dive into topics to provide additional context. Rather than doing the work for them, Brainly helps support learning by clarifying questions and deepening understanding.

For kids that struggle with organization, Brainly’s Test Prep can create a personalized study plan for a test where they study a little bit each day so it feels more manageable and less overwhelming.

 

Some past posts that might help:

Revisit Rules for Digital Devices to Set Healthy Digital Limits

As your kids get older, they change so screen time limits and rules for their digital devices should change along with them. A great tech resolution for 2025 is to sit down with your child and talk about what’s working and what isn’t.

Having a conversation about devices to set healthy digital limits isn’t easy but The Smart Talk can help. This free online tool helps parents and caregivers collaborate with their kids to create a personalized agreement about device use. The Smart Talk provides conversation starters to discuss important issues like privacy, safety, communication, media choices, health and wellness, and keeping promises.

The Smart Talk provides tips on what to do before, while, and after you talk to ensure your conversation is productive. Once you and your child agree on ground rules, you can print out a personalized agreement to hang on your fridge and reference to hold each other accountable.

Some past posts that might help:

Review Parental Controls and Game Ratings

Parental controls are available on video game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets. You can set limits for such things as play time, money spent, whether or how your child can communicate with other players and, of course, the type of games or apps they can access based on their ESRB-assigned age rating.

New gaming consoles that came into our homes as holiday gifts remind us to check default parental control settings but if your child has been playing on a system for a while, now is a great time to revisit parental controls. As kids get older, you might want to revisit the Block by Age Rating on your console. Also reconsider who they’re allowed to communicate with as more friends get their own gaming devices. If your kids are high school or college-age and their console is using your credit card, replace your credit card with their debit card to teach them lessons on spending.

In case you’ve always thought ESRB ratings are just for video games, they’re not! The three-part ratings system also applies to digital, VR or mobile versions of games available on Google Play, Microsoft Store for Windows and Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo eShop, Oculus Store, PlayStation Store, PlayStation Now, EA Origin, Steam, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and more. Online retailers, such as Walmart.com, Target.com, BestBuy.com, Amazon.com and GameStop.com, also feature ESRB ratings on the information pages prior to purchasing. 

Monitor Your Child’s New Smartphone

If you’re feeling like there isn’t a handbook guiding us through the tween and teen years when it comes to our kids, mobile devices, and social media, you’re right! However, there are tools that can help. If your child received a new smartphone as a holiday gift, now is the perfect time to install Bark.

Bark is technology that keeps children safer online and in real life. The app works as a monitoring tool to help you stay on top of your kids’ online activity and communication without invading their privacy thanks to artificial intelligence that monitors 30+ platforms, including messages, emails, and social activity for sings of harmful interactions and content.

Bark works constantly in the background monitoring content in over 45 categories, including signs of cyberbullying, potential drug use, acts of violence, profanity, online predators, thoughts of suicide and depression, and SO much more! As scary as is to think about these topics, it’s much scarier to be unaware.

Some past posts that might help:

Streamline Your Family Calendar

Whether you’re a digital calendar or paper planner type person, now is the time to revisit your family calendar to find a system that works.

If you’re ditching the digital planner and going to a paper one (like me!), you can’t go wrong with momAgenda. I’ve always loved momAgenda planners because their 18 month calendars feature luxe covers in cheery colors and finishes.

They’re a pleasure to look at on days that I dread the items on my to-do list and are the perfect size to slip into a purse or laptop bag on those back-in-person office days.

The Weekly Family Planner Pad ($19.95) is a favorite to hang on the wall for everyone to see.

Vow to Unplug and Spend 1000 Hours Outside as a Family  

One of the best ways to unplug as a family is to do something you love. You can track your hours thanks to 1000 Hours Outside, a global movement designed to reclaim childhood and reconnect families through time outside. 1000 Hours Outside challenges us to set aside screens and get outside in any way we can to help our kids thrive academically, socially, emotionally, and physically.

Download gorgeous free tracker sheets to keep track of your family’s 1000 hours or download the 1000 Hours Outside mobile app for iOS and Android. I know an app that encourages people to unplug and get outside seems ironic but technology can be a great tool when used in a balanced way!

Some past posts that might help:

This post contains affiliate links. I am Brainly’s Parenting Expert by all opinions are my own and no compensation was received for including them in this post.