When Mom Becomes a "Technology Freak"

When one of my ex-roomates walked into my house for a visit yesterday, I expected her to tease me that my "gadget charging station" was over-crowded. She was always the "neat freak" when we we lived together. But she did not notice the big pile of gadgets, because that is the norm in her house, too. However, she did ask my nine year old son how he was doing and he replied that he has become an expert windsurfer - "but mom has become a technology freak".

I laughed when he said that, but wondered what about my behavior had inspired that comment. I thought about how we spend weekends mostly technology free.  My son uses our laptops for homework and earns his screen time to play with the house entertainment technology. All this technology seems "the norm" for him. So what about my behavior made my son call me a technology freak?

Then I remembered the list of technology gadgets he sees me use each day, and it all made sense.

My son sees how I use my smartphone for mobile applications, and especially enjoys when I use it to take pictures of the flowers he picks for me.  He also sees me using my laptop, bluetooth earpieces, digital cameras and USB Broadband cards for business and social networking. I handed my MP3 player over to him. Regularly, he watches me trying to boost our home wireless router and install new wireless printers. For trips, we carry handheld entertainment devices and a video camera. 

Luckily I am not alone, my fellow Silicon Valley Moms Group bloggers also post about their obsession with technology. Best of all, I have an instant community of mom-experts to help if I have questions, one TwitterMom from my technology group helped me find a wireless router for the car!

Beth Blecherman is Co-Founder of the Silicon Valley Moms Group and has a personal blog about technology & parenting called "TechMamas.com".