In the lead up Barack Obama’s inauguration next week, much has been written about his dependence on his BlackBerry. It appears that he will not be able to continue using it once he becomes president, due to the lack of security for messages and the need for all presidential communications to be recorded and later made available to the public. But Obama is rather fond of the device–he said in an interview on American TV:
They’re going to pry it out of my hands. This is a concern, I should add, not just of Secret Service, but also lawyers.
While a heavy user, I don’t think Obama is a BlackBerry addict –he seems able to focus on things and work without his BlackBerry when necessary. I’m sure he’ll follow the rules (and perhaps switch to an approved device [...]

In our book Intimacy , Andrew and I found that advances in IT can facilitate greater intimacy of relationships among colleagues. However, this does not necessarily seem to be the case for non-colleague spouses and partners. This week I came across this recent survey from Sheraton hotels which found that 35% of respondents would pick their Blackberry over their partner.
Now, I know that sometimes a Blackberry may compete with a spouse for attention, but I think that 35% of people choosing the device over the person is endemic of the BlackBerry addiction and technology addiction more generally I’ve found in my research. If someone chooses his BlackBerry over his spouse, and brings it into the bedroom (87% of respondents), and admits he ‘loves’ it (62%) (findings that echo my own research), then clearly this person needs to reexamine his priorities.

Today T-Mobile and Google launched a new mobile phone that promises to integrate with one’s personal email in the same way that a BlackBerry integrates with one’s work email. I wonder if having one’s personal email easily at hand will lead to addictive behaviours like those I found in a study related to BlackBerry addiction that I did with David Vance of Rutgers earlier this year.
In that study, we found that a third of BlackBerry users show signs of addiction similar to alcoholics. Having these devices can create productive time out of travel and waiting time, but the BlackBerry also makes people work longer, increases stress and interrupts personal time.
Now, easily accessible personal email on mobile phones, like on the new T-Mobile G1 or Apple’s iPhone, could also be a distraction, but it’s more likely that people will [...]