Well, isn’t this the question of the tech era? I had to ask myself this very question. I have been dubbed a ‘CrackBerry Addict’ and I admittedly spend a lot of time on my BlackBerry (and my laptop). There have been a good number of articles talking about this and it’s a little fascinating and funny to me. Although, I don’t make this question exclusive to just BlackBerry; it’s any type of smartphone (Treo, BlackJack, Wing, SideKick, Moto Q, PocktetPC, etc - oops, I just geeked out for a second).

I may not feel the need to check my BlackBerry every 5 minutes (it’s more like every 20 minutes) and I may not check it while we’re eating dinner (but I do carry it to the bathroom with me at work) and I may not email and drive at the same time (I do it while at a red light), I’m still a Blackberry addict, but fortunately I don’t think I’ve orphaned my children.

I do manage to put it down while having conversations with them and when I’m at one of their performances or games, I am focused on them (for the most part-I do feel compelled to text my mom or twitter to let folks know how good they’re doing or how amazing the show is) and I even manage to turn-off my BlackBerry every night.

My thought is parents in general are working harder than ever and have huge family responsibilities and many single parents have side businesses to make extra money. Our kids are essentially work orphans. If it weren’t the BlackBerry, it would be regular old email on the computer or paperwork from the office, so either way you slice it; work sometimes puts us in a position where we orphan our kids; not intentionally though - it’s just part of being in the rat race. Things occur without you really noticing they have happened.

I believe the key is balance. Unless you’ve struck it rich and all of a sudden have a major check coming your way (if you do I totally envy you and I DO accept donations) we all have to work to pay bills and to take care of our family. But we can add more balance to our lives so that we don’t allow work/smartphones to contribute to orphaning our kids.

If you have made your kids BlackBerry Orphans, make a pledge to yourself to find and add more balance to your life and learn to TURN OFF THE FREAKIN’ BLACKBERRY!!! (heck, if I can do it anyone can).

Don’t worry; your kids still love you.