If you parent a teen and your teen is a proud owner of an iPhone or iPad, you have probably noticed the amount of time that he or she spends on their device is ridiculous.[1] Of course, all of their friends, all those snaps, all those memes, and all that buzz keep your teens rather occupied with their preferred smart phone devices. Have you ever wished to make these hours a week more beneficial? Did I hear ‘yes’? All right, then! Instead of taking their device away from them completely, look into integrating these must-have apps into their devices:
1. Color Therapy
The name speaks for itself. Most of us love doodling and find it to be a calming activity. Teens often suffer from high anxiety levels and this adult coloring app will have a beneficial effect on their mind. Don’t let the word “adult” mislead you – it only means that the pictures for coloring are cool and artsy!
2. Duolingo
I’ve never seen an educational tool that would be so engaging. This app feels like a game, but its goal is to teach you languages in an entertaining and undemanding way for 5 to 15 minutes a day (and the app’s motivation system makes sure you visit daily). The app even has some in-game purchases and gambling – but do not worry, you can only spend and gamble your own experience points in order to customize the experience and buy some additional skills to learn.
3. Autodesk Sketchbook
If your teen is seriously into art, then instead of a coloring book, get them this magnificent professional tool for sketching and painting – the very best of what you can get for a smartphone! Intuitive interface, full-screen working mode, multiple layers, a variety of brushes and customizable pens, pressure sensitivity, transformation tools – everything for creativity to thrive on!
4. Evernote
This highly praised note-taking and organizing app is worth mentioning here for two reasons. First, it’s really great and multi-functional. Second, thanks to the seamless integration with blog platforms, it allows easy blogging on-the-go, and if you want your teen to learn writing something longer than 140 characters (or better still, 80 as in a Snapchat caption), you’d better incite them by providing the adequate tools.
5. Pumpic Parental Monitoring
If you read the news now and then, you know that despite all the scandal and warnings, teens still regularly cause an uproar with another cyberbullying tragedy or sexting shenanigans. They may be tech-savvy, but they definitely ought to learn some responsibility and educate themselves in the province of the law. Until they do, you have to make sure that their online activities stay within the reasonable limits – and Pumpic is the most versatile tool to do so with. You can monitor their texts, making sure there is no drug buying or sexting, track their location to know whether they really went to school, or use Instagram parental monitoring to be confident that they don’t post anything inappropriate on their social media platforms.
6. High School Story
This game is, in fact, a choose-your-own-adventure book with all the high-school drama: cliques and bullies, parties and dating, jocks and nerds. However, all the issues are handled with sensitivity. High School Story gives positive messages and teaches teens a bit more about people and difficult choices instead of just stereotyping.
7. TED Talks
TED Talks is a great collection of lectures and a perfect way to learn more about humanity and the world around us – all aspects of life and science are wrapped in short, informative, funny, and inspiring talks by remarkable professionals. The app allows access to the vast library of videos, bookmarking and downloading them for later view, and suggests playlists based not only on the topics of your favorite videos, but also their duration. This last feature is very apt for impatient and easily bored teenagers.
8. Find My iPhone
If your teen loses their phone (or any smart device for that matter), you are in for some big drama. Luckily, you can always make sure that it won’t happen by securing their treasured possession with this simple and handy app that allows the owner to track down their misplaced device. Alternatively, the app at least allows you to lock it remotely and protect the sensitive information the phone contains.
Reference
| [1] | ^ | Business Insider: Teens are shy to talk about how much time they spend on their phones, but it’s a lot |
