Blackberry Addicts Can't Shake the Habit

Sure, they'll admit that they have a problem. They just refuse to do something about it.

Excerpt: Laptop Magazine By Joanna Stern 12/04/2007

As he stood at his father-in-law's funeral, the urge to check the BlackBerry vibrating in his pocket was too powerful to resist. John Kleinschmidt scrolled through his new messages and couldn't wait until the service was over to respond. Kleinschmidt is a forums moderator on CrackBerry.com, a site designed to help people discuss their mobile e-mail addictions. He's also a systems-administrator at a software-development company in Troy, Michigan, and he gets an average of 500 e-mails a day on his BlackBerry 8703E. The device is by his side during Thanksgiving dinner and while he's in the shower (he covers the device with a waterproof bag), and he admits, "my addiction stems from an obsession with getting e-mail as soon as it arrives."

As you may have guessed, Kleinschmidt isn't alone. According to a 2007 survey conducted by AOL, 15 percent of Americans describe themselves as addicted to e-mail. The average e-mail user checks his or her Inbox about five times per day, and 59 percent of those with portable devices use them to check e-mail every time a new message arrives. That same survey says that 12 percent of users admit to checking e-mail in church.

You might think these addicts would take a break during the holiday season, intended to be a time for family, but a whopping 83 percent of e-mail users admit to checking their e-mail while on vacation. "The element of professional and family life becomes much more poignant around the holiday season," said Paul Gossen, author of End Email Addiction, a free online mini-eBook. "Obsessive e-mail checking becomes much more apparent during family-specified time."

Alcohol, Nicotine, Blackberry
Jim DeCesaro, 44, knows his e-mail addiction has encroached on his personal life. A real estate broker in Denver, DeCesaro responds to his clients' requests as soon as possible. "It [the BlackBerry] is next to me while I sleep, and it's the first task I complete in the morning before greeting my better half, the kids, and the dogs," he says. "It comes between me and my life."

The impact of e-mail addiction is measured by how much it affects your daily life--or more to the point, how much it prevents you from living it. "There are a lot of things we do repetitively, but that doesn't always mean it's an addiction," Gossen said. "However, if the repetitive action is displacing the ability to keep other promises, it is an addiction. That promise can even be a vow to enjoy a vacation or Christmas Day."

According to Dr. Kimberly Young, clinical director at The Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, "Family relationships are most impacted by the need to check e-mail and stay in contact with others. It's seen as an intrusion by loved ones who would like to spend quality time with the person. They are most likely to complain during the holidays." DeCesaro is fully aware that his addiction is a problem, especially during holidays and vacations, but that doesn't mean he's doing anything about it. "Later this month we're going on vacation to Southern Spain, and I have contracted with Verizon for their global e-mail feature. My better half is desperately seeking a way to get me to leave it off for most of the trip; I don't think that I'll be able to commit to that wish," he said.

Although e-mail addiction isn't considered as severe as an alcohol or nicotine addiction, Dr. John Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said they're comparable. "It's an addiction," he said. "It creates a dopamine squirt, being connected. It turns on our attention system, and we love to be attending to something all the time," said Dr. Ratey, who compares the sensations of getting a new e-mail message to those produced by narcotics: a hit of pleasure, stimulation, and escape. Dr. Ratey added that without e-mail we all suffer from withdrawal symptoms, including "feeling a loss of control and out of connection."

E-mail-aholic or Workaholic?
Adam Yoffie, a deputy press secretary for a congressional committee, knows he's addicted to e-mail but also knows he's addicted to his job. "I take work e-mails at all times of the day. The news doesn't stop, so in the morning the first thing I do is check my e-mail." It doesn't help that Yoffie lives in the most e-mail-addicted city in the country--Washington, DC. "The political atmosphere encourages a very connected and emergency-driven culture," Yoffie said.

It's difficult for many to determine whether they're addicted to e-mail or just addicted to working. "Technology aids the work addiction, but work also aids technology addiction," said Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management at Rutgers University's School of Business. Porter, an expert in "workaholism," noted that BlackBerrys and e-mail tend to hide severe signs of work addiction. "Workaholics in the past who couldn't take a vacation or enjoy the holiday season had a hard time concealing the big briefcase or the laptop computer. Now it's easier for the person with the addiction; they can just sneak into a bathroom with their device."

Allison Chayo, a senior manager at a publicity firm, admits to checking her work e-mail on her BlackBerry at all hours of the day but is also as addicted to checking her personal e-mail. "I've checked my e-mail on my BlackBerry while at the gym," the 25-year-old said, "but I would say I'm equally checking my personal and professional e-mail. When I'm working late hours, I keep in touch with my friends through e-mail."

RIM on the Brain
Some who frequent Crackberry.com admit on the site that their children have been conditioned to stop what they're doing when they hear Mommy's e-mail ding. Others say that they struggle with how to protect their device on a rugged outdoor adventure. Unfortunately, many are content remaining mobile e-mail addicts, despite the fact that they know they should ease up.

Julie Morgenstern, a time-management expert and author of Never Check Email in the Morning, maintains that personal motivation to change is everything in fighting the addiction. "People have to have their own motivation; they have to feel the constant addiction is costing them in some way," she said. "They have to start realizing that they are slaves to their e-mail and technology is controlling them, and start wanting to control the technology on their own terms."

Though difficult, breaking free from the e-mail shackles is possible. Steven Manket, a New York-based attorney, has actively fought the temptation to constantly check his e-mail. "I purposely have my main cell phone separate from my BlackBerry, so I can have my phone with me, say when out to dinner, biking, or at weekend activities, but not have to have my e-mail. I try not to look at it all through dinner," he said.

Dr. Ratey said he hopes that "in the future more people will be able to notice that the addiction can be altered and detracts from important human contact. If they don't, we might as well all be robots."

2007 Copyright Laptop Magazine