Coming soon: My-boss-made-me-addicted-to-technology lawsuits

Coming soon to a company breakroom near you: Blackberry Addicts Anonymous. The fruity technology device has oft been accused of causing addiction, so much so that it's colloquially known as the "crackberry." Actually, crack may be better for you. Especially if you're an employer, as the newest untoward claim on your assets: it's the "my boss made me addicted to my Blackberry/cell phone/Treo and caused me irreparable harm" lawsuit.

I am not making this up!

In a move that lifts the "my coffee was too hot and burnt me" lawsuit up over its head, twirls it around, and then slams it on the wrestling mat of incredulity (sorry, I'm just not sympathetic about these things), a Rutgers professor says that not only are wireless email devices and cell phones "painfully" addictive, but their bosses could be legally liable for said pain. While this professor admits the idea may sound ludicrous (thank you Dr. Gayle Porter for that), "there's that element of greed that comes in to play and that element of wanting to blame someone else." She advises you bosses with lawsuit-happy employees to make sure their subordinates know they're not expected to be available, say, in the middle of their date with their spouses on a Saturday night.


Dr. Porter must be commended for her thoughtful examination of the "issues." But I see her research as far from complete. In a world where technology addiction is the new affair, it's also the new impediment to social interaction.

Technology, while striving to connect us, while calling itself "social" and "networked," isolates us. And that's the most ironic -- and most actionable (in my humble faux-legal opinion) -- aspect of all of this.