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 [...]