E-mail Can Be More Addictive than Pot

Are You an Info-Maniac? ... Do you feel anxious if you don't check your e-mail for a few hours? If so, you may be an "Info-Maniac," an information addict.

That's the conclusion of a British study commissioned by Hewlett Packard. "Excessive day-to-day use of technology -- whether it's sending e-mails or using mobile phones -- can be more distracting and harmful to your IQ than smoking marijuana." (San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2005)

According to these researchers, "an average worker's functioning IQ falls 10 points when distracted by ringing telephones and incoming e-mails ... more than double the four-point drop seen following studies on the impact of smoking marijuana." And men are more affected than women.

The HP press release begins, "The abuse of 'always-on' technology has led to a nationwide state of 'Info-Mania' where UK workers are literally addicted to checking email and text messages during meetings, in the evening and at weekends."

HP's Guide to Avoiding Info-Mania offers a ten-question quiz to determine if you're an Info-Maniac and steps to wean yourself from the addiction. For example, don't send one-word responses like "thanks." And collectively agree not to check e-mail during meetings.

Seeking local color, the Chronicle called Ryan Montana, a director at the Love Shack, a medicinal marijuana dispensary in San Francisco (where else?), who described Info-Mania as "a monkey on your back." By contrast, a person "using prescription marijuana is not spending hours a day medicating."

But the best advice came from Debra Meyerson, a professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, "The boundaries between work and nonwork are now constructed by people turning technology on and off."

Sounds pretty simple. So in that spirit, I'm outta here.

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