I am so excited, and humbled, to be included as one of the coaches on this site!  I absolutely love all that I am involved with in life, as a writer and consultant, but most of all as a mother of five wonderful children.  Anyone who knows me either personally or professionally knows that I include my children in everything I do…well…most everything.  Honestly though, I watched a program on Maine PBN that really made me think about how the digital world has affected relationships and had to ask myself if I am one of those who has fallen into the digital world as much as young people have.

As a writer and Communications major, the digital world is a fascination to me just as much as it is to my children and I can fully understand how easy it is to become addicted.  I am glued to my laptop from morning until late into the evening, either writing or reading assignments for online classes, managing household bills, communicating with teachers, etc.  While I do spend alot of time with my children, we are often sitting together each with our own laptops and checking our cell phones for current messages, posts, and tweets.

You know, I went to bed feeling guilty and asked my teenagers this morning over coffee…when we are together, am I really engaged in conversation or am I focused on what I am doing online?  Though they insisted that I am plenty involved with them and that I have no need to be concerned, this is something I am going to give more thought to.  Am I truly listening to them when they tell me about their day or when they ask me a question?  Or…am I concentrating on what I am doing in my own digital world?  This brings about a similar question for reflection…how often do we correct children about things that we could also be called on?

…off to my life online, checking into class, reading assignments, making appointments, compairing prices, yada, yada, yada….