Our Friend Letters

Dear Friends,

Life has a way of serving up inspiration at just the right moment. Recently, I had the great pleasure of dining with my octogenarian aunt, who at 86 years-of-age, isn’t slowing down. While she did recently move to a senior community, she summarily convinced her new book club to embrace nonfiction, because if you’re not learning, you’re not living.

Dear Friends,

Life has a way of serving up inspiration at just the right moment. Recently, I had the great pleasure of dining with my octogenarian aunt, who at 86 years-of-age, isn’t slowing down. While she did recently move to a senior community, she summarily convinced her new book club to embrace nonfiction, because if you’re not learning, you’re not living.

Dear Friends,

Life has a way of serving up inspiration at just the right moment. Recently, I had the great pleasure of dining with my octogenarian aunt, who at 86 years-of-age, isn’t slowing down. While she did recently move to a senior community, she summarily convinced her new book club to embrace nonfiction, because if you’re not learning, you’re not living.

Dear Friends,

Life has a way of serving up inspiration at just the right moment. Recently, I had the great pleasure of dining with my octogenarian aunt, who at 86 years-of-age, isn’t slowing down. While she did recently move to a senior community, she summarily convinced her new book club to embrace nonfiction, because if you’re not learning, you’re not living.

Dear Friends,

In this recently published survey, only 3% of people could accurately name a female tech executive (10 people actually cited Siri or Alexa!). In contrast, 57% could correctly identify a male leader with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned most frequently.

Dear Friends,

Just this week, I heard the NY Times columnist on adolescence, Lisa Damour, speak at my daughters’ school. Never again will I look at a snow globe full of glitter quite the same. Through her borrowed metaphor, Lisa explains that when our children hit an emotional rough patch which they’re apt to do, the frenzy of glitter is what’s happening inside their still-forming brains.

Dear Friends,

In these last few weeks, there have been some eye-popping headlines in technology land. The story that really captured our attention was the launch of Apple’s new credit card. And no, it wasn’t for its perks, but rather its pitfalls, which ran deep.

Algorithmic tools were at the heart of the controversy, as they determined who would receive credit and in what amount.

Dear Friends,

In this recently published survey, only 3% of people could accurately name a female tech executive (10 people actually cited Siri or Alexa!). In contrast, 57% could correctly identify a male leader with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned most frequently.

With its sweeping vistas of fall foliage in Central Park and its quintessentially 90s, RomCom plotline, When Harry Met Sally captured the cultural zeitgeist and earned its place atop the favorite movies list for years. While somewhat dated now, its uproarious punchline has remarkable staying power.

“I’ll Have What’s She’s Having” as a theme stands on its own. Today, as busy women, whether it’s running to the office or running kids around town, time is precious. When it comes to figuring out technology and how best to use it in everyday scenarios, why should any of us have to re-invent that proverbial wheel?

Dear Friends,

In this recently published survey, only 3% of people could accurately name a female tech executive (10 people actually cited Siri or Alexa!). In contrast, 57% could correctly identify a male leader with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned most frequently.

Dear Friends,

In this recently published survey, only 3% of people could accurately name a female tech executive (10 people actually cited Siri or Alexa!). In contrast, 57% could correctly identify a male leader with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned most frequently.

Dear Friends,

While we all have those moments when we wonder about our parenting decisions, I had a major cause for pause earlier this week. I’d happily sent my 9 and 12 year olds off to their grandparents, and while I did have some trepidation that a connecting flight was involved, I’d reasoned it was going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

Dear Friends,

I realize this may not be popular, but really I don’t understand this trend. Wait Until 8th (grade) to give your kids a smartphone is a campaign that launched a year ago and continues to gain traction. They recently published this piece on Facebook extolling the benefits of the new LightPhone2, calling it a “basic phone with a cool design without all the garbage that comes with smartphones.”

Dear Friends,

I realize this may not be popular, but really I don’t understand this trend. ‘Wait Until 8th’ (grade) to give your kids a smartphone is a campaign that launched last August and continues to gain traction. They recently published this piece on Facebook extolling the benefits of the new LightPhone2, calling it a “basic phone with a cool design without all the garbage that comes with smartphones.”

Dear Friends,

It’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed parenting in the Digital Age if even Melinda Gates admits to being unprepared. I think many of us can relate.

Now that we are signing iPad school use policies for our kindergarteners, we’ve unwittingly been promoted to Chief Technology Officer as the ‘Chief Overseers’ of homework. Some women are fortunate to have back-up from their partners, but others are managing the Home IT department solo.

Dear Friends,

One thing I always fret over in this Digital Age is whether my girls get enough outdoor time. When I was a kid, I played outside for countless hours, coming home always hungry, happy and tired. Apparently now, inmates in the UK get more outdoor time than kids. This week, in a flash that may turn out to be brilliance, I instituted a new rule: for every minute of iPad time, they have to spend a minute outdoors. So far, so good, and if this sticks, I will be one happy CHR. Getting a dog helps the most!

When I first started investigating Apple almost two years ago, I was surprised by how much I didn’t know, and the effort it took me to find out!

Really, truly, I can’t take it anymore. I went to another parent’s tech night at my daughters’ school and listened to a most impassioned speaker, Polly Ely of the Lab Method, expound on the impact devices are having on families. As a marriage and family therapist, she had many poignant and heartbreaking examples to share: kids stumbling upon pornography, parents feeling anxious, and the incessant pull of these devices on the parent-child bond. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard these themes–Delaney Rushton, the pediatrician and moviemaker behind Screenagers, has also underscored the severity of these issues, and many of us have our own personal experiences.

Dear Friends, I’ve started Heard It From A Friend to create more conversation and community around running the “Family Business” and to share how we can use technology to be more efficient. The goal is help women get more leverage, so we have more time for what we enjoy in life – our family, our friends and even ourselves! 10 Major […]