You’re Taking Your Kid to That Horror Movie? Really?
As a movie critic, I’m encouraged to be judgmental. But when it comes to other people’s personal lives or the choices I see somebody make day-to-day, well, I tend to pull out my imaginary fishing rod and just reel that opinionated, faultfinding side of my psyche back in. Really, I do. Hey, I’ve made more […]
Truth About the Truth or Dare App
OK, let’s start with Truth, shall we? Many of us have probably played a game of Truth or Dare at some point in our past, right? Sure, we didn’t have all of today’s high-tech gadgetry to draw upon, but it’s possible that some of you still doled out those boundary-pushing teenage challenges in some antiquated […]
Game Goods 2017: Bob Hoose’s Year-End Picks
We all know that it’s a pretty common thing these days to see families playing video games together. Games can be interactive, fun, and even educational if you find the right ones. Of course, finding the video games that fit your family room is the real challenge. And that equation can have as many variables […]
Cyberbullying Themselves
Fourteen-year-old Hannah Smith lived in Leicestershire, England. Fifteen-year-old Natalie Natividad lived in a little town called Hebbronville, Texas. Neither girl knew of the other, but they had a few things in common. For one, they were both bombarded with hurtful messages online, some saying nasty things about the way the girls looked, others going so […]
Crowdsourcing the Future?
We do indeed live in a Brave New World. And even though things haven’t yet turned out quite as bleak and dystopian as Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel may have imagined they would, his title still feels apropos in some ways. The internet has made this a time when information zips around the world in a […]
Taking the Red Pill
An interesting new viral movement has been gathering momentum lately: A lot of young people are proudly reporting via YouTube and other sites that they’ve “taken the Red Pill.” No, that’s not another new drug. Nor does it have anything to do with a similarly named “pick-up culture/anti-feminism” discussion on Reddit that some people are […]
The iGen Techy Blues
They don’t call them the iGeneration for nothing. Today’s young people, those born between 1995 and 2012, are most often referred to as “Generation Z.” But since they also have no concept of a time when they didn’t have instant access to the internet, and they likely had an Instagram account before they hit high […]
Entertainment versus The Downers of Life
Life’s just a downer, right? Well, maybe not totally, but it sure can feel that way—even here in the good old U.S. of A. A new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal reported just how pessimistic and deeply divided we Americans are feeling these days. Our country is roiling for a lot […]
When Tech Becomes Mom
So who’s in charge here guys? Who, or what, is really making the decisions for your kids? The answer—in this day of burgeoning technology—may not be as cut and dried as you think. OK, first of all, I’m not simply talking about the current trend of parents letting techy doodads do their babysitting. We all […]
And You Thought She Just Liked Doing Laundry
Being a mom is hard work. What with child care, car pools, household chores, food prep, and the gazillion other jobs and duties they’ve got on their plate—not to mention their regular, out-of-the-house jobs that many have besides—how do they have time to relax and unwind? You know, have a little time for themselves? Or […]