Just last month on our blog, we discussed the dangers of social media, email and texting technology during divorce. We are always trying to impress upon our clients that any wrong move on social media could be disastrous for their divorces and their futures.
However, technology is not all bad. We often correspond with our clients with text messages and emails. There are particular benefits to using technology after your divorce or separation as a valuable tool for co-parenting.
How Can Tech Benefit Your Co-Parenting Efforts?
In addition to the obvious cell, texting and email technology, there are numerous apps that will help you be the best co-parents you can be. A recent blog post on mashable.com lists out six of these helpful co-parenting tools. We will call out a couple of them here:
- The google calendar: For some reason, even some of the most dedicated technophiles have taken some time to adopt the google calendar app. The benefit here is that two people can see one common calendar, and see and make changes in real time. This reduces the chance of miscommunication between parents.
- Life36: This is a simple GPS mapping app that allows everyone on one account to see the locations of everyone else on the same account. This can help both parents work together to keep track of the children and avoid unnecessary danger and stress.
- 2houses: The 2houses app is the most comprehensive on the list. It includes calendar options, budgets and contact information for doctors, teachers and other important players in your children’s lives.
In our experience as family law attorneys, the most frequent problem we have seen with co-parenting is caused by lack of communication. All of the solutions listed above – and certainly many others not listed, as well – have the exact purpose of enabling and enhancing communication, especially between two people who presumably no longer live in the same household.
Even with all the challenges of technology in the divorce process, technology has tremendous value, especially for divorced or separated couples trying to co-parent together.
