Since phones were banned in schools

September 29, 2025

📚 Since phones were banned in schools: Kids are turning Google Docs into live chat rooms. They invite friends as collaborators and chat in real time, sometimes sneakily in white text on white background. It’s note-passing for the 2025 school year. Teachers don’t notice. Parents don’t know. But is it kind of genius? Yeah. You’ve got to respect the hustle.

Tags: friends, Google, kids, parents, school

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Get a free second phone number

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Your streaming bill is robbing you blind

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On my national radio show, I mentioned that the average American spends $110 a month on streaming subscriptions. Add in $80+ for decent internet, and suddenly cable doesn’t look so evil.

My inbox exploded: “Kim, how do I lower my streaming bill?”

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Boost your YouTube channel: If you want the algorithm to help people discover your videos, add channel tags. On desktop, click your profile picture and open YouTube Studio. In the left panel, go to Settings > Channel > Basic info. Under Keywords, fill in things like “lifestyle vlog” or “easy recipes,” and hit Save.

The tech myths we can’t stop repeating

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Tech myths have a way of sticking around like those 99 browser tabs you keep open, harmless at first, but over time, they slow everything down. They spread in group texts, get repeated by well-meaning relatives and pop up like spammy ads from 2003.

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Meet your financial evil twin

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A man named William Woods spent years trying to prove he was … himself. Why? Because another man, Matthew David Keirans, stole his Social Security number and birth certificate, built a whole new life with them and lived under Woods’ identity for decades.

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📸 Add Instagram highlights secretly: Create highlights without posting to your story. Open the app, tap your profile button, then the (+) in the top right. Select Story, pick a photo and hit the arrow at the bottom. Under Close Friends, choose someone who doesn’t follow you back and tap Share. Then hit Add to Highlights.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On Facebook, save interesting posts for later. Tap the three-dot menu on a post, select Save post and find them anytime under the Saved section.

Meet the scammers driving your neighborhood

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Ever get one of those weird texts that says something like, “Your package is waiting” or “Click here to unlock your cash reward”? We all have. Most people figure it’s just a scammy mass text from some sketchy website.

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Saving passwords in your browser? Stop that.

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“Hi, Kim, I save all my passwords in my browser. So why do I need a password manager? Thanks for your newsletter. I can tell it’s a lot of work. The quality every single day is incredible.” — Robby in South Carolina

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🌎 Map versus reality: Ever wondered how big a country really is? The True Size Of is a free tool that lets you drag and drop places side by side. Type the name of a country or state, move it where you want, and search another. Use the compass in the bottom left to rotate and your mouse wheel to zoom. Cool.