One of the nice things about catching up with the field is that you get to aquaint yourself with people who you've just heard of, but never met. This includes the "East Coast" Michael Stein. (I have worked a little with the "West Coast" Michael Stein.)

He has a great post about interruptive technologies, like phones, text messaging on phones, and IM. He says:

Observing my response to these two items helped me understand the Amish response to the ubiquitous telephone. I'm never without my Treo Smartphone. But I wouldn't dream of answering it during dinner, and I often let it go to voice mail during the day. As my coworker Krista says - "the phone ringing is an invitation, not a command. " People talk about "disruptive" innovations - seems to me the mobile phone as a highly "interruptive" technology that needs to be controlled. Unlike email, for example, that you can check when you are ready to.

It is a set of interesting questions. I am much better at not answering my cell phone when I don't want to, than I am at keeping my IM off when I want to concentrate. But I like that idea. To some extent, it is true that interruptive technologies like IM and cell phones do increase my tendency toward multitasking in a way that probably leads to less awareness, not more.

Michael Stien might not like being called a "neo-luddite", but my definition is anyone who asks questions that potentially makes us think about our assumptions about technology, and it's present course.