ALT-1 Tech Gifts for Moms
As mother's day approaches it is time to think beyond the traditional mother's roles and gift ideas to those that are more twentieth century. Vow to put an end to blenders as a gift this year!
Contrary to popular belief, most moms are active, interested and curious about new technology. It's possible that there are things that moms could use and enjoy beyond mother's day that they might not even know about. Here are a few good tech gifts to think about for your mom this mother's day.
Taking pictures of your family is something that almost every parent cherishes. But developing film is getting expensive, and it's hard to find a place to keep all of those albums. However, most digital cameras are designed to be just as friendly to use as film cameras are, and introducing your mom to the world of digital photography can be very rewarding! Not only are digital cameras simple to use, they are coming down in price rapidly, as are the memory cards associated with them. Your mom could take hundreds of pictures at a family gathering and never have to change the roll of film or miss a charming moment. Be willing to sit down and introduce your mom to the technology if she hasn't seen it before, but for the most part the hardest thing to explain isn't how to take the pictures, but how to get them off the camera. My mom got her digital camera for Christmas two years ago, and when I came back home two weeks ago I noticed that there were 2 years of pictures on one camera (going through all the major holidays and everything)! But, even if your mom forgets how to download the pictures, she still gets immense joy out of flipping through them on the camera's display screen. A digital camera is a rewarding gift, and if you have siblings, you can get them to split the cost with you or share the purchasing of accessories. I highly recommend this as a tech gift for mom.
Along the same lines are digital picture frames. Most proud moms love to display photos of their lovely children, and all of those digital pictures need to go somewhere! The best digital picture frames I've found can set how long it takes to cycle through the pictures you've loaded onto it, so it will either change every minute, hour, day, etc., and will always be showing off a new picture. They even sell interchangeable frames that can be set to match the decor of whatever room the frame is being displayed in.
Everyone has hobbies, and in springtime, a lot of those hobbies are outside. Moms are no exception, with gardening, walking, jogging, biking available to them. Another tech gift that may brighten your mom's mother's day is an MP3 player for her to put her favorite songs on. This may involve a discussion on the process of getting the MP3s (I recommend an Itunes gift card to partner with this gift, and get mom started off on the right legal footing.) Your mom will be amazed at how many of her favorite songs she can put onto the small player, and bring with her anywhere - in the garden, in the park, on the street.
Another neat gift idea for moms that love music is a USB capable turntable. Some turntables have the ability to plug directly into a computer to record the records to mp3, (which your mom could then put on her new awesome mp3 player). Get your mom spinning vinyl again and she'll be soaking up the memories. Is your mom too young for vinyl? There are some that have tape decks that can record your favorite cassette tapes to mp3 or directly to CD as well.
The key with tech gifts for mom is to think of your mom as a person with interests, curiosity and desire to grasp new technology. Let her tell you what kinds of things she likes to do in her spare time and it will be easy to find a gift that fits into her busy lifestyle.
