Getting beyond the Technology

I've been trying to catch up on my reading. Ergo, I found myself paging through the November 2003 issue of FSB (Fortune Small Business) magazine and came upon an article titled, "The High-Tech Blues". (I had trouble finding it on-line at first because I thought the "F" in FSB stood for Forbes. I now know it doesn't.)

Regardless, the article is about something called NEDS, or New Economy Depression Syndrome. According to the article, "[the term was] coined by Tim Sanders, a 42-year old Yahoo executive." "The symptoms of NEDS," the story continues, "sound like those of the old-economy blahs - fatigue, irritability." The cause? Our "constant access to e-mail, cellphones, and the web."

Given this, I found Sanders' recommendation to be a curious one. He suggests that you to GotNeds.com and take an on-line test! Now call me crazy, but didn't the guy say that the problem was that we're spending too MUCH time on-line? So that his solution is to spend even MORE time on-line (to take the test) seems a bit ludicrous to me - especially when you visit the site and notice that you can ALSO subscribe to a mailing list to get regular email updates about NEDS!

I think a better solution might be to turn off your Nextel and/or pager, walk away from the computer, and take a 10-minute break. Maybe you could find someone selling squares to the SuperBowl game and buy yourself a few.

(And if you happen to win anything, think kindly of me!)

"Done."