Hello? Where have you been?

Hello? Where have I been? My alter ego, Tech-and-Social-Media-Loving Momma, has been on a virtual hiatus these past few days.

I've been omitting the time to check my personal email accounts. Not texting. Avoiding some social media. Not following my favorite blog sites.

This all began last Thursday night when I accidentally dropped my cell phone. It crashed and broke beyond repair. I was bathing my little ones and had my cell phone near the sink. Just. In. Case. 

Really? Just in case? Was I going to miss an earth shattering phone call in the five minutes it would take me to rinse the soap off my child? Would I not be able to respond in lightening fast speed to the next text message? 

What seemingly began as an accident and an inconvenience strangely turned into a peaceful haven. Yes, I miss the interaction. I miss the current event updates. The quick conversations. The convenience. But, I can't help feel a sense of quiet. And peace. 

Don't get me wrong. The first night sans cell phone drove my absolutely ballistic. I was not a happy momma. "How am I supposed to function?" I fumed. But soon, the quiet of no ringing, buzzing, red light flashing telling me I have a message, was nice.

It has meant a lot more live conversations, either in person or on my house phone. More time to think. More time to focus, as opposed to multi-tasking -- doing one thing with one hand and texting with the other.

Then I began to wonder. Just how addicted to our cell phones are we? Myself, I use it for just about everything.

Tell the time.
Set my alarm.
Check the weather.
Book a movie.
Coordinate my calendar.
Check my emails.
Text message.
Tweet.
Interact on Facebook.
Take pictures.
Take videos.
etc.
etc.
etc.

I'm not one to snob at technology. Like I mentioned earlier, my alter-ego loves it. But I also know more and more studies are attributing heavy use of cell phones and social media to shorter attention spans, lack of ability to empathize, and weak self identities, especially with the younger generation. Even scarier, there are newer studies that link heavy social media usage with symptoms of loneliness. They say the bonds of our social connections aren't as strong and as a result people are feeling isolated.

But let's face it, in the world we live, we depend on our phones to get through our lives. I can't even do my job without my phone. So what now? My company mailed me my new phone today. I'm officially connected again.

But that's the interesting thing. Although I'm connected, I'm taking my hiatus as a lesson learned. A lesson in balance. In learning when to disconnect technologically so that I can connect personally. For "a connection is not the same thing as a bond."And a bond is so much sweeter.