Fighting Addiction

A newspaper article last month described how, in an ironic role reversal, many professional working parents, when home, are sneaking their Blackberries (or a similar device) into the closet or the bathroom to check e-mail so their children and spouses don't catch them. These parents are e-mailing while at their kids' school events and at home during "family time" (including dinner.) In shame they take to hiding their dirty "habit."

The Blackberry (also unaffectionate called "CrackBerry" because of its sometimes addictive nature) is a hand-held device that provides 24/7 connection to your job. The Blackberries are the workplace cyber tool of the new millennium which enables you to always be in touch with work e-mail and the Internet. It can be both a blessing and a curse.

It can be intrusive and can eliminate any remaining boundaries of work-life balance, but it doesn't have to be that way. Life is full of choices and any tool can be misused or abused. A shovel is a marvelous invention, but you wouldn't use it to clear snow off your car's windshield -- or at least not very often. Some employees or managers have addictive or obsessive-compulsive personalities and get hooked on things like this.

So, beware of your possible addiction to these tools and know that you've probably gone too far when you take it to bed with you in fear that you might miss something important! Set reasonable limits and boundaries so that it's a tool to help increase your effectiveness not a device that always needs to be on and ruling your life!