As children of the 80’s, my wife and I often sing songs by Journey, Loverboy, Def Leppard, or Bon Jovi about something that’s going on in our lives.

This holiday, we traveled back home to see our families and spent 5 days total up north. It was a great trip, but we were dreading the drive home. For some reason, the trip from Pittsburgh to Nashville always has some complication that causes it to last 11+ hours. Last year, the trip took us over 13 hours and elicited a comment from my wife that we would never do it again (paraphrased and cleaned up).

Well, this year, the trip back had its own theme song.

The Glamorous Life by Sheila E

Our oldest got some kind of stomach virus and threw up for the first few hours. She went through four outfits and at one point, I had to take her into a McDonald’s bathroom in the middle of nowhere in Ohio and wipe her down from head to toe. When I came back out - covered in orange and red puke myself - my wife was feeding a bottle to our youngest in the parking space next to ours because the smell in the truck was unbearable.

We just looked at each other and started to laugh, and she made the comment, “Well don’t we lead the glamorous life?”

As the birth of my second daughter is looming, I’ve been considering something lately: What does becoming a father do to a man who has devoted his life to technological pursuits?

In short, it highlights how neutral technology is. It can be used for malicious purposes, but at the same time can be used to protect.

As a self-described technologist, I recall many fond times of staying up until 3 a.m. learning the latest programming languages, design patterns, and software projects. My ability to learn and absorb technical issues and apply them to business problems has always been a source of pride for me.

Lately, though, I’ve been finding that my thoughts about technology are starting to wander into previously unknown territory. It all started one day when I realized that in the technology-driven culture of youth today, that it is inevitable that the day will come when my daughter will know more about some technologies than I will. Whether it be through conscious study or the latest tech fad of which Dad is totally clueless, she’ll have a store of knowledge that surpasses mine and I have to be prepared for that.

Many people I have talked to over the years see “Technology” as something inherently evil because their exposure to it is limited and they only see media coverage that shows how it can be misused. I can’t blame them. You’ll never see a story on ABC news about how involved parents were able to protect their children. It’s not newsworthy.

Most of us have watched shows, or at least heard of, how Internet predators have ingenious ways of getting to young kids. Today, the tools are fairly rudimentary: IM clients, MySpace pages, web cams, and text messages. Monitoring these activities might be daunting for some parents, but is laughably simple for someone with my technical savvy.

However I can’t stop thinking about what will be available in 12 years when my daughters are becoming young women, start making forays into broader social circles, and explore new things. I find myself sitting on the couch while my daughter dances to a catchy Bunny Town song thinking of inventive ways that I can ensure her safety without becoming an overbearing parent that unduly invades her privacy.

Thankfully, others in technical fields share my concerns and find interesting and effective ways to help combat threats to children (see how Google is helping).

There are a lot of angry, misguided, immature, and simply disturbed people in the world with easy access to a computer. By keeping my finger on the pulse of technology, I will ensure that I can always find ways to battle those who wish to abuse it to the harm of my children.