Are you "married to your office?"

Technology is great. There have been so many advancements that make things so efficient, effective, and yes, inexpensive. I still think that the advent of the e-mail is one of the best technological inventions of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, anything done to excess can be a liability. The June AOL e-mail addiction survey reported that 30% of the mobile users said that since getting a mobile device with e-mail capabilities, they feel "married to the office." I'm sure this does a lot for stress relief.

The interesting thing is that there is a lot of assuming going on about all this. While there may be some idiots, er, I mean executives who do expect that their employees are connected 24/7 once they are given a mobile e-mail device. They are in the minority. I have talked to one too many employees who have assumed, without asking, that they are expected to be connected 24/7. I was actually asked by a CEO to emphasize during my "Tame the E-mail Tiger" program that he expected blackberries to be used more efficiently, for example, while waiting for an appointment, rather than to have it ringing on the bed stand at 2:00 a.m. He felt that his employees didn't believe him. So, who was assuming what?

I am a believer that balance creates energy. And without turning those dang things off, you could be married to the wrong thing.