PCM28: Your Internet Use May Be a Form of Mental Illness -

More and more of us just can’t put our Internet devices down. It’s time to get a grip on the growing and very real problem of Internet addiction.

Many mental health experts, in fact, now think compulsive Internet use is a form of mental illness.

In this week’s episode of the PC Mike podcast, we give you some very helpful tools that will help you find out if you have a problem with the way you use the Internet and technology.

Also this week, we talk about college and pro football apps you need to get set up with now, news on new iPhones, why you should never LOL, what Google’s restructuring means to you and more!

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Show Notes for Episode #28 Aug. 14, 2015 of the PC Mike podcast:

First Things First: Can You Help Me Get My College Football Fix While Traveling?

A listener named Kent wants to know how he can watch Big Ten football while on a cruise ship in Amsterdam. Mike suggests BTN2Go.com, a network that gives fans the ability to watch the network live wherever they are via the Internet, mobile phone or tablet. This includes 40-plus football games and more than 100 basketball games. (Read more) [spp-timestamp time=”2:46″]

Thingamajig of the Week: Apps for Keeping Track of Pro Football and Soccer

This week’s “Thingamajig of the Week” builds on our listener question about keeping track of football. Paul Ulreich, Verizon’s Uber User, talks about tech that will be useful for travelers. For this week, Paul has some cool apps for those who want to keep track of football and soccer as they travel. [spp-timestamp time=”8:28″]

This podcast is brought to you by Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest and most reliable 4G LTE network.

Isn’t it time you stepped up your home security? Verizon has a new smart home device from Nest that can help—the Nest Cam! Now you can keep an eye on the house even when you’re away from home!

Whether you want the ability to identify intruders, keep a close eye on your children after they arrive home from school or figure out where Fido has been hiding your shoes, the Nest Cam lets you keep an eye on what matters most to you. With the Nest Cam, you can watch live footage of your home in 1080p HD from your mobile device and get alerts whenever motion or sound is detected. You can even hear what’s going on in the room and have a full conversation with individuals on the other end using the Nest App.

Installation is simple and takes less than 60 seconds – seeing is believing. Visit your local Verizon retailer to learn more about the Nest Cam and how it works.

Visit pcmike.com/vzw for stories about how technology can enhance and improve your life.

Tech News of the Week: Google Restructures, LOL is Over, New iPhone On The Way

Google Restructures: Google has restructured itself with a new parent company – what does it mean, if anything, to you? (Read more) [spp-timestamp time=”12:40″]

Don’t LOL at This – Or Anything: If you use LOL in your texts, you are so out of it, says Facebook (Read more) [spp-timestamp time=”15:54″]

New iPhone Event: A new report indicates Apple will hold an event on Sept. 6 to showcase the latest iPhone and likely other products (Read more) [spp-timestamp time=”17:03″]

Online Learning – Free Trial for PC Mike Listeners

I get asked a lot about finding online courses for learning how to use photography software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom CC, which are both on my recently updated list of tech gear. I talk about how I benefited from taking online courses as well as a special deal available only to PC Mike Techcast listeners at pcmike.com/lynda, where you can even try it free for 10 days and see if online learning works as well for you as it has for me. By the way, they have more than 3,300 courses to pick from – including more than 100,000 video tutorials – in subjects ranging from photography, video and audio to graphic design and web development. With Lynda, you can get:

– Unlimited access to all 3,314 courses – more than 100,000 video tutorials
– Learn new software and stay up to date

Listeners of the PC Mike podcast can get a free 10-day trial. Try any course. Start your trial now and see what you can learn. Just go to https://pcmike.com/lynda to get the free 10 day trial.

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App of the Week: Use These Apps to Stop Smartphone Addiction

Smartphones connect us to the world like never before, but there are plenty of studies that say it’s reaching the point of addiction for many, across all age groups.

To get a fix on phone use and a handle on potential overuse for you or your kids, here are three apps that will help a lot.

Moment is an app that automatically tracks daily use ofyour iPhone and iPad. You can set daily limits and receive notifications for when getting close to the limit. Users also can force themselves off of their devices when use has reached set limits. There is also a way for users to monitor how other family members are using their devices. The basic app is free for iOS with in-app purchases that expand capabilities.

The makers of the BreakFree app make no bones about the purpose of it: to break smartphone addiction. BreakFree runs in the background and warns users if they are using certain apps too much, even making too many calls. BreakFree figures out a so-called addiction score to help maintain healthy use of smartphones. The app is free for iOS and Android.

Checky keeps tabs on the number of times you open you phone daily. Checky runs in the background so you won’t know it’s there until you want to open it and see how much you’re using your devices. The app is free for iOS and Android. [spp-timestamp time=”21:00″]

Main Topic: Internet Addiction – Is It Real and What Can You Do?

Andrew and Mike take the discussion about the apps to control tech addiction further by delving into a discussion about the subject. They talk about anecdotal evidence they’ve experienced – in addition to taking on a challenge to see if they, too, might have a problem with overuse of tech. [spp-timestamp time=”26:23″]

During the discussion, Mike mentions a great blog post by Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist, that features eight simple steps to strengthen family connections every day. You can read it here: http://catherinesteineradair.com/8-simple-steps-to-strengthen-family-connections-every-day/

We Need Your Help!

As we begin a new podcast like this, it’s very important to get a bunch of reviews to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your rating and review.

Here’s how:

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts on top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in PC Mike Techcast under the Podcasts category.
> Click on the logo image of the PC Mike Techcast on the search return page
> From there, you can:

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. I read and appreciate every review! If you haven’t left a review please do so. I will be so grateful!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at pcmike.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your question.

Thank you!