SAFER TECH (and cheap) FOR KIDS
What mobile tech do you want your 9 or 12 year old girl (or boy) to have? Up until a couple years ago the choices were limited, expensive, and BAD. There were no inexpensive or GOOD choices. Your options were between an Apple or Android phone. Yes, you could get a very simple dumb phone, but the service plan was AWFUL. And there were NO safe products unless you put a tracker app on the the child’s phone.
What if I told you that there is NOW an option which has a service plan of $15 per month (it also includes the device), does not allow social media, and allows you, the parent, to control WHO can communicate with your child!!! Your child will be able to talk, text, take pictures and videos, but every time the device sends or receives YOU will receive a notification. You also will know the location of your child at all times. Maybe not great for a 17 year old (for some, an absolute YES), but wonderful for a 14 year old. They get communication functionality and you get a safe device to put into their hands.
You are thinking that would be very limiting. It can be, but the number of allowed contacts is not limited. All your child’s family, friends, teachers, coaches, neighbors, and club leaders could contact your child and your child could contact them via voice or text. It includes an emergency feature, too.
It is a “smart watch” called BARK. At the low monthly price of $15 (with no need to buy a $600 device and $50/month service) it is very affordable.
I’m thinking of getting one for myself. I rarely use my smartphone. 90% of what I do with it is text and call. It is uncomfortable in my pockets and I rarely take it anywhere. I don’t even sync my phone with the car. But a smart watch like this? I think it would travel quite well. Plus doctor offices never have clocks. I think lots of retired folk would love a watch like this.
Why THIS instead of an Apple or Galaxy watch? Price. You can’t do much more well on other smartwatches (check health symptoms or listen to music?), but they cost between $100 and $600. Second, as a stand alone product you still have to pair them with a phone service. That can cost between $20 and $85 a month. So, in order to listen to music I would have to pay $500 for the device and $50 per month. Ewww! Of course, with an Apple watch you also get lots of weird texts and calls from telemarketers. That’s worth it, I guess.
FAULTY ENGLISH
(or is this just AI?)
Stupid articles have been a thing for a minute. At first writers were merely submitting a list of tweets as though tweets were news. Then they found people weren’t interested in a list of tiny quotes about meaningless subjects. So, they moved on the submitting formulaic documents which were no different that 53 other documents about the same subject, just re-ordered and re-named to sound interesting. But leftovers aren’t really all that exciting. Now they’ve discovered AI and someone good with technology can crank out 329 articles per day without typing a word. (Oh! I’m all for that!!!) Following are some samples.
“Green tea is a popular and tasty and it also has three times less caffeine than coffee as well as additional health benefits.” (Quote from CNET)
What is the correct way to say this? Isn’t it: “it has 1/3rd the caffeine”? The way it is written is illogical. I understand the intent only because I’m intelligent and can decipher poor grammar and syntax. However, it fails the smell test and even a person with my intelligence has trouble understanding the first half of the sentence. It “is a popular and tasty” WHAT? My imagination is running wild. What word (or words) is missing? “Weed?” “Option?” “Non-alcoholic beverage?”
Frankly, I’ve tried green tea several times and found it wanting of flavor and zing. I would never drink it cold or lukewarm as I find the warmth its only redeeming quality. If I want tea I drink actual tea. If I want caffeine I drink coffee. If I want tea with less aftertaste I drink Yaupon Tea (it gives all the caffeine of tea without the tannins). I stopped ordering tea at the China House for the same reason, it was a hot drink with just a hint of tea. As for the “additional health benefits” less caffeine is NOT a benefit. All it takes to get a third the caffeine as a cup of coffee is to only drink a third of a cup of coffee. I can get as many extra benefits by going on a walk down the block on the second Tuesday of any month that starts with J.
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
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134% of younger people don’t understand fractions, but a seven times smaller group does.