The best advice I ever heard about not letting digital communication ruin our lives is:

Give your loved ones the same attention that you give your favorite digital device.

Stark reality is:  digital beats personal and our relationships suffer when we let this get out of control.

This is a battle I fight every day because I love the immediacy, convenience and instant information my digital devices can give.

New technology cannot replace the human need to relate to each other in a direct, personal way.

Marriages suffer.

Children are literally left to their own devices and are robbed of parental involvement.

We become desensitized to dealing with other people directly when we never see them, never know when we’ve pleased or hurt them.

Some thoughts:

1. Spend as much time in the present directly relating to others as you spend online, in social media or enveloped in your digital devices, websites and apps.
2. Reward those around you with “digitally free” dinners, days, outings and time spent together.
3. Make up for being absent because you’re spending too much time with technology by greeting the ones you value – who matter the most – as if you were just returning from a week’s absence from them.

Technology is not going away and shouldn’t.

But meaningful, loving relationships will continue to suffer if an equal amount of our time and attention is not focused on undistracted direct personal relationships.