“Today’s world is about being connected. Apparently some parents believe that can’t start too soon: New research shows that 7% of babies and toddlers have their own e-mail address,” began a recent Time magazine article.

“A full 92% of U.S. kids have some sort of online presence by their second birthday, which sounds astounding until you stop to wonder who the 8% of parents are who haven’t gotten around to sharing digital pics of their cuties.”

It’s great to share the joys of parenthood and babyhood with others, including online, but some perspective is needed. As Pope Benedict shared in his 2009 World Communications Day message, “The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. It is in and through our friendships that we grow and develop as humans. For this reason, true friendship has always been seen as one of the greatest goods any human person can experience. We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialize the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop online friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbors and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation.”