Switched On - but Burnt Out

"Once was a time when telephone business was conducted at desks; formally, in an office, by people who tended to be fully dressed. Such an old-fashioned concept. Now, it is possible to find oneself in a toilet cubicle listening to a mobile phone ring in the next cubicle. Even more remarkably, it is answered by its owner, who proceeds to hold a dignified conversation with an unsuspecting work contact - despite the indignity of the moment at her end.

Everyone has a story about the intrusiveness of the mobile phone: of the boss who rings while his employee is on a family holiday; of the young woman who embarrasses a full tram by her loud argument with a friend; of train users who bray into their phones about personal topics ranging from their love lives - "I said to him, I said . . ." - to the state of their innards - "Yeah no, the doctor reckons . . ."

In this piece from The Age [here] the writer addresses the critical issue of how we are all now seemingly "caught" by being contactable via our mobile, Blackberry or whatever 24/7 - but at a cost! As you relax [oh yeah? - over the weekend] read this article and reflect on how you might regain some semblence of control over your life.

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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