The blinking red light...

...or the might as well be trademarked tone of an iPhone instant message. I would argue when posed with the question, are you a slave to technology? many of us would chuckle and laugh at the comment, an outward sign of "no" but inside a knowing, well, maybe. I remember the day I was told I needed to get a Blackberry from IT, I resisted, I said no, no...I don't need it. It wasn't a choice. Now, years later it's as if I am controlled by the red light. If I know the blackberry is the room, I find myself staring at it from time to time, red light or green light, red light or green light. You would think the red light would make me want to STOP! don't come any closer, I only offer you a task or spam, stay away. But no, it calls to you...come, look at me, I offer you news. It's rarely good news is it, but we scurry like Pavlovian cubicle workers (perhaps that's redundant). Should my iPhone buzz or chirp I find myself in need of looking, I have been in the barber's chair and felt the vibrate and considered...do I risk the sudden movement and that razor moving from my neck to slice my ear off? Do I try to be sly and slide my hand in and hold it to the side and find a way to tilt my head to see it? I might as well toss out my crack pipe and bong while I am at it...we know it's wrong, right? We can't go anywhere, online or off without getting a message of some kind, most often one we don't want nor did we request...a pop up window, a billboard, a radio ad. We should be running away from more communication, yet some of it, we crave, we desire...if you happen along this, and you think, wow...that guy has problems, ask yourself, have I ever replied to an email at 3am? have I ever been visibly upset because I lost a signal on a call...while I was driving? So what do we do...or, do we need to do anything? Is this just where we are and it's time to accept and find a better way to text, drive and email at the same time?