The Butterball Turkey Initiative

We are tech addicts. Email, phone calls, web sites. We sup digital stimulation like Wolf Blitzer does precint returns -- voraciously and often without seeming to actually breathe. Yes, I know the upside. To stay in contact is essentially human. To keep abreast of information is critical for productivity. To obtain baseball scores during a dinner party or romantic evening with your wife is important for the sanctity of the marriage.

But is our compulsive use of our gadgets always so positive?

Two Harvard psychiatrists have coined a phrase for the lure of technology. They call it acquired attention defifict disorder. Their theory basically says that when we check our email, or answer a phone call, or open a new web page, we get a little burst of adrenaline, a "seratonin squirt." Absent such input, we feel bored. So we crave more.

Other psychologists describe the lure in emotional terms. Checking email frequently is a little bit like buying a lottery ticket. You know most of the time you won't get something that interesting. But every once in a while you do, so your checking habits get randomly reinforced. Plus, the shrinks say, no one wants to be the only person in the elevator or at the dinner table not checking a cell phone. It makes you look lonely, like the loser.

There are some astonishing stats about how often we check our devices, but I'll save those for a later post.

Mostly, I want to tell you about the Butterball Turkey Talker. I spoke to her last year while doing a radio interview about Hooked with WGN in Chicago. The host, Alex Goldfayn (his handle is the technology tailor) asked listeners to call in with their personal tales of compulsive technology use. A woman called up and told the story of how she was driving in her car over the Thanksgiving holiday. She grew bored, but didn't have anyone to call. So she called information and got the number for the Butterball Turkey Hotline. The operator answered. And the woman started talking about how her life was going. Never once asked how long you bake a turkey, and at what temperature.

What about you? Are you reading this while driving on the freeway? Are you twittering even now? Am I keeping you from checking a baseball score?

I'd like to hear your stories. And over the next few months, presuming I haven't crashed into a retaining wall talking to the folks at Taco Bell headquarters, I'll post the stories, report some of the new info I'm learning about compulsive tech use, and we'll begin an interesting conversation. If I have crashed into a retaining wall, please tell the Taco Bell operator that I wanted to pass the time, and a burrito supreme.















The question asked by Hooked is whether. You've heard my story. Tell me yours. I'd like to get some sense