My friend Berlin Fang recently wrote this little gem about parenting with technology (http://bit.ly/1CkXkgj). In it, he describes how technology can be used for good purposes, and he encourages parents to lead their children toward positive, edifying uses of technology.

I wanted to share an example of a good use technology by my son that, frankly, I never really thought much about: virtual playtime.

Yesterday evening, my son was in his room playing after dinner. I heard his tablet start chiming because he was getting an incoming Google Hangout call. It was his cousin calling from Wichita, and, not surprisingly, the house filled with the sound of excited chatter. Soon, the sound changed back to the normal sound effects and other "boy sounds" (yikes!), except that the additional conversation with his cousin continued!

So, I walked back to his room to check it out and was a little surprised to see that he had perched his tablet up on his shelf with Google Hangout video still going, and he and his cousin were playing together! Hagan was playing with his Legos or some such thing and his cousin was playing with his stuff on the other end of the call. They were interacting with each other, too. There was role playing, sound effects, and "boy noises" all going on between these two boys who were separated by 150 miles yet in the same room.

I have to say that in that moment I was proud of both of them for making a Google Hangout an actual "hangout." I was so happy that they were playing with one another like "normal"—that the technology was mostly transparent and they were connecting more than just virtually. I thought, "Now, this is a good use of technology!"

Sadly, I then had to drop this bomb: "Hagan, I love what you guys are doing—except maybe for the "boy noises"—but in five minutes you need to write an essay for school." I’m sooo mean, eh!?!

How do you and your family use technology for positive, relationship-building, world-bettering things?