Arkon Resources

Arkon's Tablet Headrest Mount will give you and your kids some flexibility on the road.

Summer travel season is here. And whether you plan on traveling by train, plane or automobile, the chorus of "Are we there yet?" is inevitable. You may be able to stave it off, though, if you pack your kid's travel entertainment kit properly. Here's what I suggest you take with you.

Etymotics Research

ETY Kids 5

Kids's Headphones
Kids' headphones are a must for any travel kit. But make sure they're specifically designed for kids to ensure they won't damage their hearing. According to a U.S. government survey, 12.5 percent of children ages 6 to 19 (approximately 5.2 million children) have permanent damage caused by exposure to loud noises.

For older kids, I like the in-ear ETY Kids 5 ($49 on etymotic.com). Etymotic makes quality headphones and these are no exception. The ETY Kids 3 model ($79 on etymotic.com) has the in-line controls for iOS devices and work with cellphones.

For young children, the Kidz Gear Wired Headphones ($19.99 on gearforkidz.com) or Kidz Gear Wired Headphones with inline mic and controls ($29.99 on gearforkidz.com) are a good choice. Their over-the-head styling make them easy to put on, they fit comfortably and deliver good sound. Volume limiting isn't built-in, but a free volume-limit cable comes with the headphones.. 

Samsung

Tablet
If you don't want to spend $399 for an entry-level iPad, a tablet running Android provides a great combination of apps, video entertainment and price. My pick for kids would be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 ($249 on Amazon.com). This 7-inch tablet is thin and light; its dual-core process holds up to gaming; and it has 8GB of onboard memory plus a microSD slot, so you can load it up with videos. And, unlike the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 can access the full Google Play app marketplace.

Tablet Case/Stand and Car Bracket
Holding a tablet can become tiresome on longer journeys, so you'll want some sort of stand or mount for your kid's tablet. For planes and trains, the rooCASE Dual-View Multi-Angle Leather Folio Case ($25 on Amazon.com) protects the tablet when it's not in use and transforms into a stand—both horizontally and vertically. For the car, try the Arkon Tablet Headrest Mount ($29.95 on arkon.com).

Seagate Technology LLC

Wi-Fi Hard Drive
You can bring up to 300 HD videos with you on your next trip with a Wi-Fi hard drive, like the 500GB SeaGate GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage ($199.99 on seagate.com). The GoFlex Satellite can stream video to as many as eight devices at the same time over the Wi-Fi hotspot it generates. The battery will last for up to seven hours.

Innergie

Back-up Battery Charger and Car Adapter
There are definitely worse things that can happen on long trips, but running out of juice for portable entertainment devices can be a headache. So bring a backup battery-powered charger and a car power adapter. The Innergie USB Travel Charger Kit ($41.99 on Amazon.com) will provide power to two USB devices through your car adapter and comes with a two-USB wall charger. Add a PocketCell back-up battery charger ($79.99 on Amazon.com) and you can keep your tablet alive for an additional 4.5 hours on the plane or train.

Monster Cable Products, Inc.

Screen Cleaner
Kids and goo go together, so you'll want an easy way to clean up. There are cheaper solutions out there, but I like the simplicity of the Monster Cable CleanTouch Pen ($16.09 on Amazon.com). Use the pen to erase smudges and then follow up with the built-in cloth. It's even TSA-compliant (under 3 ounces) for your next flight.

More stories on Techlicious:

• Great Travel Sites to Plan Your Next Trip
• Essential Tech Products for Your Car Safety Kit
• Tracking Your Kids

Get Suzanne's free daily Techlicious Newsletter or chat with her on Facebook.

A 7-year-old Wisconsin boy's drawing of his dream visit to the time of pirates, ships and treasure has won him the annual Doodle 4 Google competition, which means he'll get quite a bounty for it: a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for his school and the drawing itself featured on Google's U.S. home page Friday.

Second-grader Dylan Hoffman was among more than 114,000 kindergarten through senior high school students around the country who entered drawings tied to the theme of "If I could travel in time I'd visit ...."

In his submission, the Prairie School student wrote that he'd "sail a pirate ship looking for treasure, have a colorful pet parrot and enjoy beautiful sunsets from deserted islands.” His drawing shows all that and more: ingenuity incorporating the very non-pirate-era word, "Google." The annual challenge by the search giant asks students to create redesigned versions of its logo.

Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president, product management, said in a blog post Dylan's artwork "will also be featured on a special edition Crayola 64 Box, the first time ever that a child's artwork has appeared on Crayola's iconic box."

Other winning booty for Dylan, who lives in Caledonia, include a Chromebook laptop and a trip to New York City, where his work and that of finalists from all 50 states will have their doodles displayed in an exhibit at the New York Public Library, starting Friday and through July 19.

Google Thursday also named four national finalists (by grade level), each of whom will receive a $5,000 college scholarship. Here's Google's summary of their work and comments:

• Talia Mastalski, Grade 5, East Pike Elementary School, Indiana, Pennsylvania. for “Traveling to me.” “When I think of Google, I think of a wormhole leading me to knowledge," said Tali in her entry. " If I could travel in time, I would visit a similar wormhole into the future to find out about ME.”

Talia Mastalski, courtesy of Google

• Herman Wang, Grade 6, Suzanne Middle School, West Covina, California, for his doodle “Retro City.” “If I could travel in time, I'd visit Retro City. A future city made of robots and humans," he said in his entry.

Herman Wang, courtesy of Google

• Susan Olvera, Grade 8, SOAR Alternative School, Lafayette, Indiana, for her doodle “Traveling Back to the Future.” Susan says, “If I could travel in time, I'd travel back to the future. If there is life on other planets, I believe we'd visit the natives as well as invent different ships and rockets for quicker transportation. With what we have accomplished currently, I believe the ‘future’ isn’t so far away.”

Susan Olvera, courtesy of Google

• Cynthia Cheng, Grade 11, Edison High School, Edison, New Jersey, for her doodle “A World of Adventure.” Cynthia says, “If I could travel in time, I'd visit the age of the Vikings. Though their tales of monsters may not have been entirely true, they were some of the greatest explorers in history. It would be a remarkable experience to share adventures and discover new lands with them.”

Cynthia Cheng, courtesy of Google

You can see all the finalists' work here, and congratulations to everyone who participated!

Related stories:

• Over 114,000 students doodled for Google, but only one will wind up on the home page
• Google's Mother's Day doodle delivers hugs and kisses
• Not just for fun, Google Doodles drive traffic, too

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Duane Hoffmann/msnbc.com

Do you have a gadget that’s full of trouble? Are there computer issues that annoy you and your family daily? Tell us about your tech problems and we may answer your question on-air this weekend on TODAY.

Hit the comments section on this post and share your woes. 

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Microsoft

Windows 8 will let parents opt to receive a report card like this about their kids' computer activity.

Here’s a Windows 8 feature that’s sure to spark lots of conversations around the dinner table.

Gearing up for the “Release Preview” of the new operating system next month, Microsoft this week detailed its plans for Windows 8′s family safety settings. One of the features lets parents receive a weekly email report that summarizes a child’s activities on the computer. 

It’s part of a free cloud-based Family Safety service, letting parents click a link in the email to change settings and restrictions based on what they see. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

The feature works in conjunction with the Microsoft account logins (formerly Windows Live ID) that will be used for signing in to Windows 8. Parents will be able to create separate logins for each child and then turn on the Family Safety settings to enable the feature.

Microsoft says it’s part of a new “monitor first” approach for parents.

“We expect you’ll find activity reports a great tool for teaching your kids about responsible computer use,” writes Phil Sohn of Microsoft’s Family Safety team in a blog post outlining the new features. “With the simplicity of activity reports, we believe more parents will adopt Family Safety, resulting in a safer computing environment for children.”

Other new Family Safety features in Windows 8 include more fine-tuned controls for setting time limits on computer use, and the ability to prevent kids from seeing games above their age rating in the new Windows Store app market.

The new features will be included in the Windows 8 Release Preview, slated to be issued in early June. Microsoft hasn’t yet given a final release date for Windows 8, but the new operating system is widely expected by the end of the year.

More from GeekWire

• Hands-on: Microsoft's Windows 8 shows steady progress in Consumer Preview
• Microsoft stuck behind Samsung Bada in smartphone sales
• Google's geeky glasses, now with a handy patent

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Twitter and Facebook.

Courtesy of Sean O'Connor

47-year-old Scott Widak sorts through mail he'd received from Reddit users.

Even though the Internet, as a whole, is notorious for having a short attention span, a large group of strangers have been showering a man in hospice care with countless letters, drawings, stuffed animals, DVDs and other gifts for over a month. All of this, just because they were told that he loves opening mail and needs to be cheered up.

When his uncle, Scott Widak, was placed into hospice care, Sean O'Connor knew he had to do something to help keep his spirits up. The 27-year-old Boston-based filmmaker knew that Widak — who suffers from liver disease and Down syndrome — loves opening mail. And, as a long-time Reddit user, he also knew that a post on the social linking site can quickly grow into a small movement.

O'Connor explained all those details in a post on a Reddit forum — or " subreddit" — called r/AskReddit about a month ago:

Hey Reddit - my 47 year old uncle, Scott Widak, has Down syndrome and is terminally ill with liver disease. He is currently bedridden and living out his last days at home with my 85 year old grandmother. One of his favorite things to do is open mail … anyone feel like sending him a letter or card?

Since O'Connor included an address, the post was quickly removed (as some Reddit forums maintain strict rules against the sharing of personal information, in any context). Nonetheless, many Reddit users had already seen the information and others privately messaged O'Connor for the contact details.

Reddit

And that's when the Internet's kind side truly shone.

Boxes upon boxes of letters and gifts began arriving. "At first Scotty was extremely confused," says O'Connor. But then the parcels and notes from stranger "started to grow on him."

"Where are the boxes? I'd like to look at the mail," he'd regularly ask. While no one was in the room with him, he once even got out of bed, grabbed a box of mail from where the parcels were stored, and carried it back all on his own. It was as if the messages from strangers gave him a new burst of energy.

The sheer quantity of mail was overwhelming though. "He could appreciate one letter for months …he doesn't even have the time to go through all of it," O'Connor explains.

Courtesy of Sean O'Connor

There were gifts from all over the world.

An Australian man even mailed his lucky coin to Widak. "He'd been holding on to it for 14 years," O'Connor says. Unfortunately the envelope containing the trinket was damaged before it reached its destination and the coin was lost. But the sentiment touched Widak.

Courtesy of Sean O'Connor

Even though he'd seen Reddit users commit all sorts of acts of kindness — such as fulfilling a terminal cancer patient's wish, gathering funds for a child's medical care, and so on — O'Connor was still amazed. "These people have their [crap] together. They're going out of their way to send letters to stranger."

"No one could predict this," he says. "And they're still doing it."

Related stories:

• How Reddit users helped fulfill a terminal cancer patient's wish
• Reddit raises $31,000 for child's medical care — in 12 hours
• Historical sci-fi movie began as Internet comment

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Facebook. It's like every hinky relationship you've ever had — you sense something is up, but ultimately, you're going to do a thing about it (until maybe it's too late).

We've long known more than a few Facebook users don't trust the social network to keep their personal information private. We know this because each and every time a new Facebook privacy kerfuffle hits the news, that's all we talk about in our status updates ... on Facebook. You know, that social network we don't trust with our information. Now, a new AP-CNBC poll has the statistics to support our long-held supposition.

Sixty percent of those polled had a Facebook account — even though more than half of the respondents also said they "have little or no faith in the company to protect their privacy," according to the poll. Are you on Facebook, yet still concerned about your privacy? Tell us why you stay!

Related stories:

• We may not trust Facebook, but we don't quit it either, shows poll
• Why Facebook thinks your comment is 'irrelevant or inappropriate' 
• Does your Facebook 'Like' count as free speech

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about online privacy, then asks you to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+. Because that's how she rolls.

Photodisc / Getty Images file

By Alan Henry, Lifehacker

If you're thinking about heading outside or to the gym to get some exercise now that the weather is turning warm, you may benefit from an appliance you can wear on your wrist or in your pocket that keeps an eye on your activity level and gives you feedback on how well you're doing, whether you're hitting your activity goals, or where you can improve.

There are tons of these gadgets coming onto the market, and that all make big promises, but which ones are the best to help you get in shape? Here's a look at five of the best, based on your nominations.

We asked you which of this new breed of fitness gadget were the best at helping you get and stay in shape, which ones offered you the most valuable feedback on your activities, and which ones worked with the tools you prefer. You responded, and now we're back to highlight the top five.

Nike+ Fuelband

Nike

The Nike+ Fuelband ($149) is a bracelet you wear on your wrist that, quite simply, keeps an eye on all of your activity, including your steps walked, calories burned, and more, and turns it all into a score of sorts, called your "Fuel."

You can keep track of your activity and your score on your computer or your iPhone, set daily activity goals, measure your progress, and get active feedback both through the apps and through the device itself on how well you're doing and whether you've beat your goal. The Fuelband even includes a mood tracker, so you can keep an eye on your performance and how it relates to your mindset on a given day. You also have the option to share (or not) your progress with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

FitBit

Fit Bit

If you're looking for an appliance that doesn't just track your activity, but can help you get a more restful night's sleep, the FitBit ($100) is the gadget for you. It's a tiny clip that attaches to your pocket, sleeve, or anywhere else on your person, and keeps an eye on your activity during the day — including your steps taken, stairs climbed, calories burned, and so on — and how much sleep you get and how often you toss and turn at night.

The FitBit collects all of this information and then uploads it to the FitBit webapp so you can track your progress. If you like using your smartphone to monitor your activity, the FitBit even plays nice with popular iOS and Android fitness tracking apps like Endomondo and RunKeeper. Then, you can share as many or as few details as you like with friends, who can support you. You can even use the FitBit's webapp to track your meals and diet, offering a truly complete tool to manage and improve your health.

BodyMedia FIT

BodyMedia FIT

The BodyMedia FIT ($100 to $200) is an armband appliance that wraps around your upper arm, and keeps an eye on your calories burned, your daily activity, and even your sleep quality and sleep patterns. As you wear the armband, it sends data to the BodyMedia webapp (which requires a subscription to access) and syncs with mobile apps for iOS and Android so you can keep an eye on how well you're doing working towards your daily activity goals, and how well you slept the previous night.

You can also pick up optional displays for the armband so you can see the data it's collecting while you move around. Combine the armband with the BodyMedia meal and diet planner, and the combined package offers you a great way to improve your overall health and wellness. Plus, the service has different types of armbands depending on the features you'd like.

Striiv

Striiv

We don't fault the folks behind the Striiv Smart Pedometer ($100) for urging their community to cast their nominations. Those of you who own a Striiv really love it, and while the gadget is part touch-screen pedometer, it also has a number of built-in mini apps that motivate you to walk more often, monitor your progress either on the device or through the Striiv webapp, share your progress with friends (and even compete with them towards daily activity challenges), and even participate in charity walks where donations are made based on how many people reach a certain activity level.

As you progress towards your walking goals, you can share it with friends on Twitter and Facebook, and interact with others who also use the Striiv to stay in shape. The Stiiv even has a built-in game that challenges you to rescue animals on an enchanted island, but to do so you have to get active. The game rewards you for walking, running, and taking the stairs instead of elevators.

Reuters file

Your smartphone

Many of you pointed out that you didn't need an appliance to help you get and stay in shape. With the help of a smartphone and a few well placed apps, you just slide your phone in your pocket before your workout, and let the app track your speed, movement, and activity. Other apps allow you to log your workout with their own active communities who will encourage you to push harder towards your goals, cheer you on, and offer instant feedback either on the device or on the web. We discussed a number of these types of apps when we showed you how to turn your Android phone or your iPhone or iPad into your personal trainer, if you want to go that route.

More stories from Lifehacker:

• Clean Up and Organize Your Music Library This Weekend
• Put Your Phone in a Drinking Glass to Boost Its Alarm Volume and Avoid Oversleeping
• How to Choose the Best Chart for Your Data

Like her great-great-grandmother and etiquette expert Emily Post, Anna Post strives to make the world politer. She speaks with msnbc.com's Rosa Golijan about smartphone etiquette — and rude phone users.

Post explains that attempting to be a bit more courteous while using our smartphones (and other mobile devices) is quite important as many people list misuse of mobile technology among their top pet peeves. According to a survey sponsored by Intel, 73 percent of people complained about seeing someone use a cellphone while driving, 65 percent were annoyed by people shouting into phones, and 28 percent were irritated by those who use mobile devices while walking down streets.

The guidelines offered by Post in the video above, along with the tips below, should help us all get through our days with far fewer of those annoyances — without having to abandon our smartphones:

• Practice what you preach: If you don't like others' bad behavior, don't engage in it.
• Be present: Give your full attention to those you are with, such as when in a meeting or on a date. No matter how well you think you multi-task, you'll make a better impression.
• The small moments matter. Before making a call, texting or emailing in public, consider if your actions will impact others. If they will, reconsider, wait or move away first.
• Talk with your family, friends and colleagues about ground rules for mobile device usage during personal time.
• Some places should stay private: Don't use a mobile device while using a restroom.

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

msnbc.com

A mom who dared to share words of encouragement on Facebook to an unpopular reality-show contestant found herself as the target of a hate campaign that's raged for six months. After trolls allegedly set up a fake Facebook page in her name and used it to solicit girls as young as 9, Nicola Brookes decided to sue Facebook to find the names of the unseen people who persist in harassing her.

Brookes, who lives in Brighton, England, has been the target of troll hatred on Facebook since last fall, when Frankie Cocozza, an "X-Factor" contestant, was thrown off the British equivalent of "American Idol" for boasting about drug use. Brookes, whose daughter is a fan of the show, was looking at a Facebook page about Cocozza and saw all the snarky remarks posted to him.

"Keep your chin up, Frankie," she said in her Facebook post. "They'll move onto someone else soon." Move on they did, to Brookes herself.

On the fake Facebook page they created in Brookes' name, the trolls apparently solicited young girls for drugs and for sex, then posted comments on the same page calling Brookes a pedophile. The trolls also later posted Brookes’ Brighton home address and a photo of her daughter, says Brookes.

msnbc.com via Bains Cohen LLP

An example of just one of many attacks on Nicola Brookes that have been waged on Facebook in the past six months.

Facebook removed the fake page, but Brookes wants the social network to turn over the Internet addresses of the perpetrators, hiding behind various identities. She maintains that she did nothing more to inflame their bile than share her "keep your chin up" remark.

"As soon as she posted that comment about the singer, people started hurling awful, nasty comments toward her," attorney Rupinder Bains told msnbc.com in a phone interview. Her London-based firm, Bains Cohen, took the case on a pro bono basis. Brookes, in her 40s, has Crohn's disease and has not been able to work for a while. The Facebook fiasco has made her scared to leave her home, with threats continuing, Bains said.

When the law firm asked Facebook to remove the fake page last fall, it did so quickly — "they were great," said Bains.

"But the trolling hasn't stopped," she said. "The trolls will constantly be on there, making comments about Nicola ... and then they say things on other blogs elsewhere and on their own Facebook pages. We have to take steps to get the identity of these trolls."

Facebook, contacted for comment by msnbc.com, shared this statement:

Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people that use our service. Unlike other websites and forums Facebook has a real-name culture, which provides greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment. We are clear that there is no place for bullying or harassment on Facebook and we respond aggressively to reports of potential abuse.

The site gives users "the tools to report abuse on every page and the option to block people from having any further contact with them.   Reports involving harassment are prioritized, reviewed by a trained team of reviewers and removed if they violate our terms."

In a story in the Telegraph, a Facebook spokesman said much of the same, adding that the site responds "aggressively to reports of potential abuse," but declining to comment on the legal action.

Bains believes there may be four or five people behind the harassment/bullying effort on Facebook, but she doesn't know for sure. The law firm plans to request an injunction from the court in Britain to compel Facebook to turn over the computer addresses of those involved in the cruel campaign.

What happens if such an order is granted and the law firms gets ahold of the names? "We would see criminal prosecution once we've identified the trolls," Bains said. Charges could include violations of harassment and communications laws in Britain.

The case, she said, "just goes to show how the veil of anonymity gives an individual so much strength and power," including the power to wound.

Meanwhile, Brookes has been "through times of depression because of this," but she remains on Facebook, Bains said: "She refuses to be beaten by them."

Related stories:

• Teen sues classmates for libel over Facebook page
• Mom's Facebook photo pops up on porn, dating sites
• Girls expelled for Facebook 'Hit List'
• Mom: Facebook flagged photo of Down syndrome son as inappropriate

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Google's Mother's Day gift to moms everywhere is a sweet, short animation on its search home page. You'll see the middle "g" in Google as the mom, complete with pearls around her neck, and the two "o's" in Google as the kids running up to mom to give her hugs and kisses and a flower.

The Mother's Day tribute has been done by Google since 2000, but this is the first time it's using animation for moms' day.

If you're searching for anything online today — including a last-minute Mother's Day gift — Google's doodle is a good reminder that gifts aside, what's really important on this day are matters of the heart.

Related stories:

• More than 114,000 students doodled for Google, but only one will wind up on the homepage
• Google doodle: Alexander Calder's moving mobile
• Google doodle celebrates 'world's largest snowflake'

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Getty Images stock

You've seen her, or maybe you are her: The mother with a phone in one hand, kid in another, and run, run, running to keep up with the demands of work, family, friends. Nearly 75 percent of those U.S. moms visited Facebook in March, and 54 percent of them have smartphones, higher than the national average, according to Nielsen.

Those are some of the stats shared in the research firm's snapshot of "The DIgital Lives of American Moms," released Friday.

"Moms are at the center of their family's offline life, so it's little surprise they're also at the center of many of the biggest trends online as well," said Nielsen.

Among the firm's findings, based on statistics from March:

• While Facebook reigns as the top social network or blog for moms, with 72.5 percent of them going on the site in March, next in line were: Blogger, visited by 24.3 percent; Twitter, 14.1 percent; WordPress, 10.8 percent; and Tumblr, 8.3 percent.
• Pinterest, the site that allows users to "pin" info, links and photos onto a virtual bulletin board, was the top "family and lifestyle" site by moms in March, with 4.9 million mothers visiting the site in March. Nielsen said moms are 61 percent more likely to visit Pinterest than the average online user.
• Disney Online was the second-favorite family and lifestyle site, with 4.8 million mom visitors in March, followed by iVillage Network (4.4 million), WebMD (4.2 million) and Everyday Health (3.8 million).

"When using social media, moms are 38 percent more likely to become a fan of or follow a brand online, and moms who blog are more than twice as likely to follow brands and celebrities compared to the online average," Nielsen said. 

Moms also visit blogs more often: They're over 25 percent more likely than the general online populace to hit WordPress and Blogger. In fact, about one in three bloggers are moms, and 52 percent of bloggers are parents with kids under 18 in their household.

While many of us shop online to save time and money, moms "are 35 percent more likely to shop for clothes, 50 percent more likely to buy toys, 29 percent more likely to buy music and 23 percent more likely to purchase e-books online within the past 30 days," Nielsen said. 

That mom who has the phone attached to her palm is not only busy checking on children, schools and schedules, she's also checking social media, Nielsen says: At least half of moms use their mobile devices to do so, compared to 37 percent of the overall online population.

More stories about the crazy digital lives we lead:

• 12 percent of younger moms use cellphone during sex: study
• Study identifies 4 types of cafe Wi-Fi hogs
• Addicted to your cellphone? Nomophobia on the rise
• New bra is made to carry an iPhone

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Getty Images stock

Some moms are more into romancing the phone than romancing their mates: 12 percent use their phones during sex, according to a survey.

It takes a bit of imagination — maybe too much, really — to picture that scene, much less the logistics. And it does beg at least a few follow-up questions: Are those moms texting, talking or playing "Words With Friends" during such intimate moments? And if they're talking, are they hands-free, er, that is, wearing a Bluetooth headset?

Those are answers we'll never learn from the otherwise informative "Moms & Media 2," a survey by Meredith Parents Network, which publishes several magazines including "Parents" and "American Baby."

"When we saw the results we were wondering the same exact thing," a spokesperson for Meredith Parents Network told us. "Unfortunately we don't have any anecdotal data about the how's or the why's."

The tech-centered behavior comes from mothers between the ages of 18 and 35 — dubbed "Millennial moms," born between 1977 and 1994. "There is no part of their lives that is media free," the company said in a statement.

As further evidence, 21 percent of these moms use their phones in the bathroom, although the surprise there is that the figure isn't higher. It's hard to go into any public restroom these days without hearing those of either gender on the horn while they're on the john.

Among the other findings:

• 81 percent of Millennial moms said shopping was the No. 1 way they use their smartphones
• They have an average of 13 apps on their phones, and two-thirds say that fewer than half of those apps are for their kids.
• They have a "love-hate relationship with Facebook." While more than 8 in 10 moms use the social network, 72 percent are frustrated by "all of the recent Facebook changes to its format and privacy policies," and 53 percent said they feel Facebook "wastes their time."
• 55 percent of time-starved moms said they de-friended companies on Facebook, with "too many messages and ads being the No. 1 reason," Meredith Parents Network said.
• Video streaming is on the rise for this group: 23 percent streamed TV in 2011, compared to 16 percent in 2010. 
• Only 41 percent said they watched live TV in 2011, compared to 55 percent in 2010.

"Today's moms are media omnivores," said Carey Witmer executive vice president and president of Meredith Parents Network, in a press release. "Controlling their voracious diet is so important to them that they are constantly creating new rules about how and when media intermingles with their busy lives via their various devices, screens and networks."

The survey was done last November and December by Zeldis Research Associates for Meredith Parents Network. A "nationally representative sample" of Millennial moms, with children from infants to age 12, was taken, and 1,041 complete questionnaires returned.

More stories about the crazy digital lives we lead:

• Study identifies 4 types of cafe Wi-Fi hogs
• Addicted to your cellphone? Nomophobia on the rise
• New bra is made to carry an iPhone

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.