The Rise of the Blackberry: a workaholics dream

The Blackberry. A piece of technology so ubiquitous in large towns and cities that it's seen off the challenge of PDAs and the iPhone and it's hard not to see at least one person using them on the daily commute (providing you don't drive in). Madonna even sleeps with hers under her pillow. I understand that they are useful and this is a 24 hour working world but is it really that necessary to email Hong Kong or Sydney at 4 in the morning?
There's a term for this: nomophobia. OK, so it applies to a more general fear of not having a working mobile, but the point remains. It's an open invitation for trouble: there's already a blurring of the line between work and personal life. The phenomenon has got so bad, stories about people using them on a Saturday night out or under the table at dinner parties are circulating. Despite being a social tool, it's become the ultimate symbol of being anti-social, surpassing even the mobile.
Every morning I see at least one suited and booted guy (and, yes, it normally is a guy)intently staring at his Blackberry doubtless reading some highly important email). Last year, the company's own email service went down in the US and the reaction was like an addict being deprived of drugs. In fact, one woman said quitting smoking was easier than not having her Blackberry. In some ways given the ability for truly mobile email, it's gone beyond nomophobia.
There's a good reason that it's been named CrackBerry, and it's probably more addictive than crack. A study by MIT Sloan in the States has found that when in a room of with other people, users are more likely to check their Blackberrys. I know our IT manager is lost without his and a mate of mine reported back to me last week that his boss is rarely seen without his.
So what happened to time out, unplugged? What used to be a simple pleasure of spending time with friends and family has been taken over by a compulsion to keep in touch with work mates. And with it come a lot of reports of stress and burnout normally reserved for City traders.
Surely it can't be good for a piece of technology to be compared to a class A drug with as anti-social consequences. People, put down your Blackberries and join the rest of the world!