https://www.digitalmom.me/podcast



https://sarah-gallagher-trombley-s-school.teachable.com/p/home

Hillary Wilkinson: (00:00)

Summer and technology are topics that typically elicit really deep sighs from most parents. Road trips, travel, interrupted schedules. It all sort of creates this perfect quagmire for, for the digital depths it seems. And that's why I asked my guest today to be here. She has created a new resource to offer music to kids safely, which as one who has charted many a road trip mile certainly piqued my interest when I read about it. She is the founder and CEO of Digital Mom Media, a former Snapchat executive and a mom to two tween boys. Her newsletter, Thoughts from A Digital Mom is one that I actually always open when it hits my inbox. We all know those mass mailings where sometimes you don't, but when I see this one, I'm like, Ooh, it's gonna be good. She delivers real answers and good solutions to tech challenges and I'm so happy she's here today to talk to us about The Digital Mom Music Drive. Welcome back to Healthy Screen Habits. Sarah Gallagher Trombley.

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (01:40)

Thank you so much, Hillary. It's so lovely to be back. It's great to be with you again.

Hillary Wilkinson: (01:44)

Yeah. It's like visiting an old friend . So, Sarah, what have you done? What is this digital mom music drive and why did you make it?

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (01:55)

So what you were just saying definitely resonates with, uh, a pain point that I was experiencing in my house. When we look towards the summer and are trying to figure out how to give our kids a little bit of access to music, it invariably becomes complicated really quickly. Uh, there are obviously different music streaming sources out there, but not all of them are perfectly safe. And on top of that, there's now all these new kid friendly music players. So there is a pathway to make music safe for our kids, but it does take a little bit of work. and what I've done with my music drive here is created a roadmap for parents so that they can use their streaming services, pair them with kid-friendly devices to give their kids a great and safe music experience.

Hillary Wilkinson: (02:49)

That's great. I keep using these road trip analogies, but you've really created a roadmap for us! 

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (02:59)

Yes.Unintended . Yes.

Hillary Wilkinson: (03:02)

Yeah. And, um, I don't think that everyone quite, uh, may know why it's important to have this roadmap for safety. And can you talk about some of the things that get found on the streaming services that people might not be aware of?

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (03:22)

Absolutely. So most people that I know, most families that I work with are using Spotify or Amazon Music or Apple Music. These are very common music streaming services, and the vast majority are using those services now for music. However, much like smartphones, much like social media, these were services that were developed for adults and aren't always super safe for kids. And so there's a few steps you need to take with each one, depending which one you use to make them safer. Um, Amazon Music and Alexa and Spotify all do have parental controls. It's actually very important that parents use them. There are the obvious things you're looking for, which is the appropriateness of the content, curse words, those sorts of things. But in addition to that, in some cases kids can stumble upon really inappropriate content. And in the case of Spotify, kids can stumble onto porn.

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (04:19)

So you wanna be very, very careful. Additionally, and this is specific to Spotify, again, there is now a messaging feature in Spotify that kids can use that parents often aren't aware of. So it is really important that we set our kids up for success, that we decide what level of content is appropriate for them and make sure they're able to access that kind of content and not other content. And it's a tough one. Every family I think, has a different, uh, approach to music. Parents have different tolerances for what is acceptable or may not be acceptable. So this is a tricky situation for most parents, a nuanced one. So it's really important to understand the parental controls and set them up so that our kids are not stumbling onto things they shouldn't be, but are getting a great experience and a chance to experience music.

Hillary Wilkinson: (05:09)

Yeah. I appreciate that you talk about the nuances that are different within each family, because you're right, everybody does have different tolerance levels and I mean, it can vary from, you know, people within, you know, aunts, uncles, family members, et cetera. So I think it's also important to when developmentally appropriate to engage your kids in the discussions of why you're setting these these levels or why you can, why, you know, other members might not be comfortable with that, but different families have different rules and we do, we do it this way

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (05:55)

A thousand percent.

Hillary Wilkinson: (05:56)

I know that you also have some kids safe music players that you recommend. Um, can you share a few of those?

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (06:11)

Yeah, so there are a few kid-friendly music players that I don't know all parents are aware of and are definitely worth checking out. One that I use, and I actually use this with my kids, is called The Mighty. The Mighty looks like an old school shuffle. And the way it works is whatever streaming service you use, you can pull playlists off of your streaming service onto this device, and they can listen to just that playlist. So you're able to own the streaming service yourself, but then give them access to curated lists of songs that you are comfortable with them listening to. So it's a very safe way to do it because there is no discovery or stumbling upon anything. You are prescribing the lists.

Hillary Wilkinson: (06:56)

Yeah, it's kind of like the old CD case.

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (06:59)

Absolutely. You know, or, or you made a mix tape for your child. Yeah,

Hillary Wilkinson: (07:02)

Yeah, right. , that's a, that's a better analogy. I like that .

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (07:06)

Um, so that's, that's one I quite like and it's very small, uh, and portable, so it's good for activity as well. There's no screen on it either. It really is just a controller. It does mean you can't really see each song. You're sort of shuffling through it and it might be a little bit of a surprise what you'll get next, but it's all contained within an app. Uh, another one, um, and this is a very popular one with younger kids and I know a lot of families that send their kids off with this one when they go to summer camps and it's called the Firefly. It used to be called the Campfire. Uh, but the name has changed. I think the company got acquired and this is another streaming player. This one does have a screen, um, but it doesn't have anything else going on other than music.

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (07:52)

Uh, this one will work with Spotify, Amazon, Audible, and Libby. All of those can come pre-installed. So if you have those services, you can sync them right up and then be very prescriptive about the music that you allow for your child from one of those services. So that's the second one. And then a third one, which is very new, it's actually in pre-order still, so I haven't gotten my hands on it, but I have been reading about this company called Nodi, NODI. This one is also screen free, like the Mighty, it plays audio and it has one additional feature that may or may not be something you want for your kids. And that is a safe voice messaging feature. So this one will allow you to work with Spotify Connect and it will also have its own proprietary NODI library of audio books and lessons and a safe voice messaging mechanism. So I can't a hundred percent say that one is awesome. I have not used it, but it is available for pre-order. There's a lot of good information on their website and I just thought it was an interesting one, uh, for parents to check out.

Hillary Wilkinson: (09:00)

And Sarah, honestly, this is why I love your newsletters. You just deliver like the hard fast. Like this is this, this is that, you know, and you do it beautifully without judgment. Parents get to decide the path that they wanna take, but please be informed in doing so. So I appreciate everything that you do. Thank you. So, going back to the Digital Mom Music drive, um, I know you were talking about maybe having a URL or something along those lines. Can you share that?

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (10:07)

Yes. .

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (10:34)

So if you're interested in the music drive, if you go to digital mom.me/podcast, sign up, mention Healthy Screen Habits podcast. When you do that, I will send you a special discount code for the music drive. I will also give you links to those products I just mentioned and the most recent Substack that I did, really giving you the sort of background on all of these things. What you get in the music drive, if you're curious, are step-by-step parental control instructions for Spotify, Apple, and Amazon, as well as a feature by feature comparison of the Mighty, the Firefly, the NODI. I also add in there Echo.Kids and iPads. You can really see the differences when you apply a streaming service to one of these kid-friendly devices. And that will help you make the decision that makes the most sense for you.

Hillary Wilkinson: (11:28)

Awesome. And I will include that link in our show notes. So if people we're, we're gonna, we're gonna kind of like, you know, stepping stone people right back to you, . Okay, great. Uh, okay, so clearly this summer we are going to be doing some driving. I keep referencing road trips . And in keeping with that theme, I was wondering if you had one thing to put on a billboard to help parents in this age of tech, what would it be?

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (12:04)

So I think I often say to parents or remind parents that smartphones and social media were created for adults. And when we put them in the hands of kids, we need to make sure that they are age appropriate and kid ready. I'm gonna amend that today and say, smartphones and social media and music streaming services were created for adults. So it's very important that we make them kid ready and activate the parental controls where they have them. 

Hillary Wilkinson: (12:32)

I love it. Okay. As always, Healthy Screen Habits will be taking a summer hiatus for the podcast, even though it tanks my ratings and listenership. I think, you know, when I look at the metrics I go, uh, but I do it every year because we truly do want to walk our talk and spend time offline with the ones we love. So if you would like to spend time with us, however, please reach out. We love chatting with parents and caregivers, meetings with book clubs, parenting groups, and youth leadership. It's honestly, it's, it, it, it is the thing that feeds us. It's our favorite thing to do. You can get a hold of us at info@healthyscreenhabits.org and you can also find a complete transcript of this show, as well as that all-important link that's gonna unlock the castle to all things digital mom media by hitting the show notes for this episode. And you do that by going to healthy screen habits.org. Click the podcast button and find this episode. Have a wonderful music-filled safe summer, everyone. And I'll meet you back here on September 9th, which is the first Wednesday after Labor Day. Sarah, thank you so much for being here. I hope you guys have a great summer at your house.

Sarah Gallagher Trombley: (14:01)

Thank you, Hillary, same to you. Rock on.