Time thief

Lately I've been playing with my recently acquired Generation 2 iPod Touch, a fascinating device that allows me -- when in Wi-Fi zones -- many of the advantages of a laptop computer. I can listen to lots of music, find stuff on the Web, make phone calls and read (and, theoretically, write) e-mail messages.

That last one made me a little uncomfortable, and I didn't know at first why. Then it occurred to me that it was not a lot different from the BlackBerry to which I had been addicted before I hung up my green eyeshade.

Anyone could get to me at any hour of the day or night -- and often did, as I would get up from a sound sleep to read it. When it and I parted company, I feared at first being disconnected. I quickly discovered, though, that I had been liberated. I started sleeping through the night. I checked my computer when I needed to or felt like it -- a lot less often than I had been checking the BlackBerry.

Now my iTouch has me doing it again. I carry it in my pocket and check it whenever I'm in a wired restaurant. I even check it around the house.

So now I'm going to be inviting social-media communication, and somehow I suspect that the time I gained by relinquishing the BlackBerry has been reclaimed by the iTouch.