new age addiction

When BlackBerry service gets cut off for ten hours, we discover just how much of a hold this technology has on some people's lives, from Bereft of BlackBerrys, the Untethered Make Do:

“I quit smoking 28 years ago,” she said, “and that was easier than being without my BlackBerry.”

“I have reached the point where I get phantom vibrations, even when I’m not carrying the thing,” he said. “That sure doesn’t sound too healthy, does it?”

The BlackBerry blackout, just like the power failures of yore, could have even helped in the romance department — if couples could actually connect. Robert Friedman, president of the media and entertainment division of @radical.media, a production company, said the disruption gave him “a lot of free time on my hands to spend with my wife, although I couldn’t find her since her BlackBerry was off.”