I see by the snailpapers that William Powers, author of HAMLET'S BLACKBERRY, due out in June, has some good advice about how to keep technology's addictive powers in check.....

....and basically, Powers says, don't let technology overwhelm you.

Powers, a former writer for The Washington Post and an important US media critic, says in his forthcoming book, Hamlet's Blackberry, that modern workers need to strike a balance in their overconnected lives by disconnecting regularly and by resisting what he calls "digital maximalism."

Adding more technology doesn't always improve productivity, although we often assume it will. Powers uses examples from some of history's most prolific figures, including Benjamin Franklin, Plato, and Shakespeare [hence the reference to Hamlet in the title] to make his points.

"All these devices that we use do wonderful things by making our lives more enjoyable and enhancing our creativity," he says. "But if you don't take some time to open up some distance between yourself and your screens, you end up shuttling between small things and never doing the big things that lead to the best kind of productivity." His suggestion? A regular walk, with the smartphone left safely in a desk drawer. "Nothing bad will happen," Powers says. "And something good just might."

Another idea. Follow Danny Bloom's example, and do not ever buy or own a computer, a Kindle or any other kind of reading or computing or emailing device. Bloom says he stays sane [sic] by using a borrowed computer in his local Internet cafe, and has never owned a computer in his life and never will.