While I was working today, I had almost a dozen conversations going at once. I was negotiating a writing job with an editor in North Carolina, brainstorming with a writer colleague here in town and advising a good friend of mine who just landed a copy editing gig with a big magazine. And along the way, I was chatting with my sister on the phone. Too much? It sure feels like that some days. But not today.

When my inbox is full of spam and junk mail, the phone is ringing off the hook with solicitors and my daughter’s IM ping is popping up every two minutes, I can feel completely overwhelmed by communication. But, today I felt, as I more often do, an amazing gratitude at the opportunity to be a part of a world that can so easily stay connected. It was effortless to have these conversations, and each connection was a small stone in the building of a relationship – personal and professional.

It is days like to day that the wonder of technology makes me feel grateful, not grumpy. And it reminds me that I’m really in control. I can turn off IM. I can answer e-mail later. I can let the answering machine take my messages if I want to.

Or, I can work on projects I love, chat with my colleagues, and whoop it up with my sister – a thousand miles away. On days like today, the choices are easy.

Sharon Miller Cindrich is an author, columnist and mother of two tech-savvy kids. Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country including The Chicago Tribune, Parents Magazine and FamilyFun Magazine, where she is a contributing editor. Her self-syndicated column Plugged In Parent is published in parenting magazines around the country, and her book E-parenting: Keeping Up With Your Tech-Savvy Kids (Random House 2007) is available on Amazon.com.

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