New York Times blogger John Tierny posted a Gadget Addiction story yesterday based on the Five Signs of Gadget Addiction, as developed by John O’Neill, director of addictions services for the Menninger Clinic.
According to O'Neill, the five signs are:
- You’d rather text than talk face-to-face.
- You can’t leave home without it. You can’t relax without constantly checking for email or messages; a cell phone ear piece becomes a permanent part of your wardrobe.
- Your family or friends ask you to stop, but you can’t. The Internet becomes a more powerful draw than spending time with family or friends or other favorite activities.
- You miss important life moments.
- You can’t stop even after it gets you in trouble, like being in a car accident while talking on the cell phone.
As Tierny, who often prefers texting over conversation and can't leave home without his Treo (booo!) says, does that make one an addict, gadgict or gadgetolic?
I think O'Neill's five signs are pretty solid but he's missing out on the key point - people who are truly addicted to their gadgets never ever think they have an actual problem (I always think the people who don't have a BlackBerry glued to their body have the problem - don't they know what they're missing!?!).
Another point O'Neill is missing is that gadget addictions don't just affect our waking hours these days... I just read a post over at PhoneDifferent.com yesterday about a study in Sweden and the United States that found using a cell phone just before bedtime interferes with sleep patterns - apparently the radiation from cell phone radios gets into your head and prevents you from getting into a deep sleep pattern.
I really liked Tierny's use of the words gadgict and gadgetolic in the NYT blogs - not as cool as CrackBerry but pretty good. I think I'm going to start using those terms on a regular basis (check out gadgict.com and gadgetolic.com ...haha!).
So what's the verdict? Are you a Gadgict? A Gadgetolic? A CrackBerry? Or one of those lucky unlucky enough to not have the addiction?! Keep in mind, if you seriously need to address your BlackBerry Addiction problem, check out CrackBerry.com's 13 Step Program (12 just isn't enough!).
