The Laptop Junkie's Burden

An article in the Chicago Tribune the other day told the story of one of Barack Obama's Chicago buddies, Eric Whitaker, who lugged his laptop to a party at the Democratic convention in Denver last summer. The piece quoted another Obama buddy, Marty Nesbitt, on Whitaker's "addiction." "We were going to a cocktail party at 10 at night. A party!" Nesbitt said. "And he had his cord and laptop." Nesbitt called this "hilarious." In other words, "deeply sad."

At Least the CrackBerry Is Pocket-Sized

Everybody knows about BlackBerry addicts, those twitchy-thumbed compulsives who fascinate researchers and comedians. One recent study reported the exotic locations in which mobile device users get their kicks. Bathroom: 79 percent. During romance: 11 percent. At a funeral or memorial service: 16 percent.

Less is written about the laptop addict, an equally tragic modern figure, the kind of person who, say, during a friendly dinner conversation about voters in Pennsylvania pops up to fetch the MacBook and check the difference between the Mennonites and the Amish.

I was at a dinner recently when that happened. The laptop was plunked down on the table next to the wine and pasta. Isn't that rude?

And, I'm sorry, but I Googled Swedenborgians for my dinner companions while I was at it, because that's the thing with laptop addicts. To us, old-fashioned conversation -- rife with error and conjecture -- is as a form of intellectual malpractice, at least as long as Wikipedia is at hand.

Sore Neck Telltale

Almost anywhere a BlackBerry addict can go, so can a laptop junkie, if not quite as discreetly.
Parties, dinners, planes, bedrooms: The laptop addict is there, complaining about the damage carting around 5 pounds can do to a person's neck and shoulders.

You know who you are, you wrecks who secretly peck away at your laptop in the bathtub. I'm not saying how I know, but I know about your tap, tap, tapping while trying in vain to keep your fingers dry. I know that you wonder exactly how much water can be dripped onto the touch pad before the screen goes black.

I'm not passing judgment. Believe me, I understand entirely why you need to check your e-mail and watch Internet TV while soaking in the anti-stress bubble bath.

The Addicted Artiste

Unlike a BlackBerry, a laptop can't be slipped into a pocket or fingered during a meal or meeting, but it is an adaptable machine.

When I Googled "laptop addict" on my laptop while sitting in a cafe, I promptly found a photo of Beyonce typing on a Mac while standing in a swimming pool.

And just as a laptop is different from a BlackBerry, so are its addicts. BlackBerry addicts are all about the Web connection. Laptop addicts like that part too -- it's nice to pull into a Panera Bread parking lot with the laptop riding shotgun to piggyback on the free WiFi -- but the laptop addict isn't all about the data.

The laptop addict is an artiste. He keeps his laptop close because at any moment the muse may descend bearing a novel idea or the mot juste, which he must inscribe pronto on the screen. And right after that, he can Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) the name of a good massage therapist who can undo the kinks from all those hours hunched over his addiction

By: Mary Schmich

Reference: technewsworld.com