To quote Henry David Thoreau the man who constantly and desperately visits the post office seeking correspondence from others “has not heard from himself in a long while.” Similarly as Eddie Vedder wrote in Grievance, “For every tool they lend us…a loss of independence.”

Luddites we are not yet we are not blind to the physical, emotional, social, financial and psychological negatives of an overreliance on technology. William Powers is not either.

For some thought-provoking summertime reading check out “Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age.” In it Powers argues our societal obsession with e-mail, Twitter, text messages, Facebook and the like has us bouncing around like pinballs. He writes, “Of the two mental worlds everyone inhabits, the inner and the outer, the latter increasingly rules.”

Although an interesting read you’ll need to wade through passages for his words of wisdom and tips on maintaining a balanced life – rather ironic given that the scatter-brained approach required to read his book is the same one he claims is a result of our technology-centric lifestyle.

Happy reading!