Today's installment in The New York Times' anti-technology series is about parents who neglect their their kids, because they're glued to  their iPhone and iPads. They have a cute little graph that shows that people talk to their kids less when they're also on the computer.

This has been a concern for a while. The mommybloggers are periodically accused of being bad mommies, because they spend all their time blogging.

There have always been distractions from your kids. Before there were iPhones, there was TV and neighborhood conversation and books and knitting. Studies do show that we're spending more time with our kids than every before.

That said, we have certain rules around here. Nobody is allowed to read books or check e-mail during dinner. No video games before noon. 40 minutes of computer time during the week for kids. I rarely blog or send e-mails between 3 to 8. I will check comments on the blog and monitor tweets, while I'm supervising homework.

My kids are older, so I can ignore them for short burst of time during the afternoon without damaging them forever. However, I still can't spend the evening in front of the computer. I want to set a good example for them, so they don't end up as computer blobs. Also, they still need attention. Jonah and I have formed an informal book club, so we have to talk about the latest Percy Jackson book. Ian and I are reading books together, too, because he's in a graphic novel rut and he needs soft nudges to read something new.