Note to lawyers: Step away from the Blackberry!

Sep 7th, 2010 by Mark Cohen

Are you suffering from a technology addiction? Don’t laugh — it’s real. There’s even a WebMD article on it. Of course, if you are getting your medical advice from the Web, that might be a tell-tale sign that you suffer from this particular malady. … In any event, here’s a snippet from the WebMD article:

We are now more wired than ever. Researchers from the University of Glasgow found that half of the study participants reported checking their email once an hour, while some individuals check up to 30 to 40 times an hour. An AOL study revealed that 59 percent of PDA users check every single time an email arrives and 83 percent check email every day on vacation.

“I live and die in email,” says IT manager Christopher Post in Camp Hill, Pa. “I found a PDA to be a double-edged sword. It can certainly allow you to do a lot more in any given day, but there is certainly a cost associated. I tend to lose out on a lot of other experiences, like when I should be paying attention at the dinner table.”

And, of course, lawyers are worse than most at being attached their electronic umbilical cords — from smartphones, Blackberrys and bluetooth ear phones to laptops, GPS devices and now iPads. Technology is ubiquitous, but are lawyers in danger of having it take over their lives?

Leah Weaver tackles the tricky topic in a post titled “Work Abandonment” on JDs Rising, Minnesota Lawyer’s new blog for new lawyers. If you’re reading this on a PDA in particular, you may just want to check that out …