Well Jack if that is true, then the majority of Americans are mentally ill. Come to think about it, just responding to this blog is causing my mental state of well being to fade.

Well, if it is, I have it.

Like any compulsive behavior, it depends on degrees. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I guess if you lose your job and your relationships, you’d better have a look at it.

Moreso, staying in contact with friends and family on a constant basis is a sign of the changes in our society. Instead of having several generations living under one roof, running the family farm or other business, we lead pretty solitary lives. We crave closeness–a connectedness–that is one of the nicer human qualities. Oh, sorry…I have a text message.

Patricia
Boise, ID

No jack, sending excessive Email is only a sign of the times. Stripped of jobs, gas, and money the option left is to find a hobby or make babies and thank God they are opting for the less costly option.

Jack are you serious? If sending E-mails is a mental illness why pose these questions that you do? Why do we reply to them? I guess we are both sick.

if so then that means everyone who responds to this is brain damaged, right?

Jack,
If your doing it while your driving, when you should be paying attention to the road, then yes. There must be something wrong in your head if you believe your special and have the ability to safely drive and use your phone or computer at the same time. These people are not beautiful or unique snowflakes they are careless halfwits and when they kill someone due to their carelessness they should be subject to the same laws any murderer faces.

Hi Jack:

Most definately. So why do you ask so many nutty questions on your blog?

Ron K San Diego

Only while you’re driving…

Excessive is relative term… For some, it’s a way of life, now…

For me, it’s a great way to let you know that I’m here most every day and watching the “Situation Room”..

Love your work, Jack..

It’s not a mental addiction…and if you say anything about it again I’m going to virus bomb the CNN email addresses (just kidding, NSA).

Brian
Idaho

I don’t think so. Just a minute, I have to check my mailbox. It is not a sign of mental illness because, Just a minute, I have to check my mailbox, darn this computer is so slow. It is no different than, Just a minute, I have to check my mailbox is it six o’clock already? Ah, than playing the ponies, Just a minute, I have to check my mailbox. Or, ah, having a few drinks now and then. Just a minute, I have to check my mailbox I wish you’d stop asking these questions so I could spend more time checking my SPAM.

Jack:

No it is not a sign of mental illness. But it is a sign of being highly socially dysfunctional. The streets are full of drivers with cell phones glued to the sides of their heads, the check out lines in the stores are full of people yakking or texting on cell phones and at home, these same people sit down to their computers and attempt to melt down the keyboards in a flurry of emails. There needs to be one day a year when no one can send an email or a text or make a cell phone call and then all these techno-morons would be forced to actually have face-to-face interactions with other human beings, Unfortunately, those people have probably already lost the ability to do that.

Nonsense. E-mail is the greatest invention since sliced bread. They make it possible to communicate with someone without bothering them when they are busy - they can read and respond at their own convenience. Plus, e-mail eliminates long distance fees. A perfect invention!

Now those persons who feel they must use their cell phones constantly, who call people every five minutes to report the most banal occurances, who annoy others by talking loudly into them in libraries, restaurants, and other public places; yeah, they are wacko.

I don’t know if it is a mental illness. However, I find it can become an obsession. I have a grandson whose mother had to take his texting away because it was interfering with the time he should have been spending on his homework.. In moderation, as with anything, is the best way to go.

Mary - Santee CA

I’m not mentally ill, Jack… Am I? Anymore questions today? Please, please, please. LMAO

Jack even if you don’t use what I send you (you did last night thank you thank you) and even if no body reads what I post, I get to put my opinion out there for the world to take or leave. I think that is very healthy.

I am not sure if it is a sign of mental illness. But it sure is a major contributing factor to short term memorization and distraction. How else has the term “soundbite” become such a credible term in this generation?

Scienctist have to much time on there hands in stead of working on a cure for Aids, Cancer, Diabetes and other important Disease they are waistin time and taxpayers money on stupid research i know news is slow today but please ask questions that matter to American Taxpayers Hint (gas Prices)!

No Jack, but receiving them sure should be. Imagine a job where you set yourself up every day to be abused by viewers from all over the world. Oh, wait, you don’t have to imagine that do you? Care to discuss mental now Jack?

Nah, I’ve seen you torn to shreds by some people Jack, but you take it well, and you aren’t even nasty in return. Now that’s self control buddy, and an Irish sense of humor…………………

I once watched in amazement as someone drove their vehicle beside me on the Interstate while using a laptop computer. Moments later the traffic ahead of us came to a stand-still and wouldn’t you know it, the driver using the laptop rear-ended the car in front of them. I wasn’t surprised.

And yes Jack, emails, text messages, and BLOGS (Jack) can be addictive as well as a form of mental illness. So I think I’ll avoid the addiction and illness today by not participating in your blogs. Oops, I already failed didn’t I.

No, but hair on your palm is.

Well,Jack,while watching teen-agers and college kids having ear phones impacted in their ears and constantly e-mailing and text-messaging,while driving other doing other activities,instead of actually talking to each other. Watching people being addicted to their crack-berries and always checking their e-mail and seeing millions of e-mails disappear from the White House.While every weekday,all of us Caffertyophiles get our daily Jack-fix,I think we are all a little insane. See you in the nuthouse!

Like any type of addictive or compulsive behavior, it can rise to the level of mental illness. For many people, its no different than having a phone conversation. If it reaches the point where it interferes with other life functions, get some help.

I’ll send you another comment on that 30 minutes after I take my medication.

Looks like alot of people are very mentally ill.

Jack: A very controversial question, knowing that your questions and your show support the “mentally unwell.” I view it as a necessary consequence of literacy, and if you post my response………I’m going to be cured……at least temporarily.

All adiction has some sort of mental illness with it. The question really should be… IF you vote for someone who doesn’t have you’re best interest in mind, so long as they can say enough bad things about an associate the other candinate once had does that make you mentally ill??

I’m not sure I’d use the term “mental illness”, but it can become a problem, as other addictions would.

The test is, whether it causes the person to not function properly in his or her normal, everyday routine.

Either way, it is a part of our culture, which tells me that what’s considered normal is not always healthy.

Jack, I usually hit the delete button on my e-mails. The only e-mails I open are usually from my friends, my lawyers, or the bills I can now recieve from the phone company & other utilities.

Hell Jack, according to those criteria, this election and the campaigns related with it are a mental illness! As for Asian statistics, could it be that people in such information-repressed regions are just hungry for knowledge of the world they live in? Where are any of us supposed to get current information, from TV reporters corresponding with field reporters who just got the latest “poop” straight from the press-agent’s release-notes?
Later man, I’m going fishing!

Thanks for the information my wife has always said I am crazy now you just proven it. This will be the last e-mail you will receive from me for a while. I will be seeking help if my Health Care coverage allows me to. So long, wish you well, have a good life.

What in life is not an addiction? If I lived closer to a casino my big butt would be sitting in front of a slot machine and if I was a good Christian I would be going to church every time the doors open.

Not at all….I can quit any time, right after this next one. I have to tell my sister what my cat did today.

jack, dont want to flatter myself…but i am guessing i am the guy that made you think of this issue… no i am not mentally ill. i enjoy this….
and it is unbelievable to me that you are so clearly in obama’s camp…and show nothing but hatred towards the clintons.. cnn and the viewers deserve better…..thats why when its 4:00 i tune into msnbc or fox….print this jack…

A much surer sign of mental illness is thinking that you deserve to be president of the USA.

Another sure sign is thinking that you are a pundit and expressing an opinion on everything and expecting to be paid for it.

A third sure sign is believing in Dr. Phil and the other millions of psycho-babblers belching in the American Journal of Phychiatry.

God bless us everyone who only sit and type.

Jack, Anything excessive is a mental obsession/illness/addiction, etc etc. By the way, want me to stop sending you emails so I am cured?

I’m sure it can be. There are children who barely leave the house as they are constantly on line, Its more then email its gaming also. Try going to the persons house and having a chat you may have fun.
Going to super markets with people texting or on the phone what is with that. I just don’t get it. Why not invite the person to go with you. I guess it is the sign of the times. Sad times I’d say, but I’m semi old haha, (lol)

I asked myself if my emailing was a sign of mental illness, and they said no.

Jack, don’t worry! E-mail is a normal part of life. Just be cause we say we’re sick of e-mailing, it doesn’t mean it’s detromental.

I wonder if I can use this new universal healthcare plan to cure my mental illness from texting and e-mailing.

Jack, it might become a sickness if one ignores duties to his family, his work, and of course to himself. Otherwise, it represents a way for people to communicate, to speak their feelings, and to have these acknowledged.

No unless your family and other interpersonal relations suffer from it!

Jack.! Anyone that spends all day sending text messages obviously has some type of problem. Maybe they need a more challenging activity. Like a real job doing something meaningful.

Jack,
You write a Blog and expect to get E-mails in return. How have you been feeling? You can pay someone $100 an hour to listen to your problems.

Of course it’s a sign of mental illness. I’m emailing YOU aren’t I?

No unless your family and other interpersonal relationships suffer because of it!

Oh, come on Jack. Texting and emailing and blogging puts you in touch with so many more interesting people whom you might otherwise not have the opportunity to meet. After all we live in a global economy, why not participate in global conversations.

I dont know Jack, I’m a studying PoliticalScientist and attorney, not a Dr. I would think that it could be, but mostly people just wanting to be connected, and In every sense of the word.-

Interesting information.

Some mental illnesses are associated with some sort of chemical imbalance so that you can modify the behavior by giving the correct prescription drug. Is there the possibility that the sending of the email triggers the release of some chemical that produces a level of euphoria that requires the individual to want to send another? Now the pharmaceutical industry needs to research that chemical, come up with a new drug to handle the illness and get more money out of the already hurting public.

This country can’t afford the drugs we are buying now! Have a good weekend getting high on sending emails!

Excessive to the point of disruption of normal life activities or routine is the definition of an addiction or compulsion so yeah it can be.

I don’t know Jack! But if you find out email me back OK?

Hmm. Can I get back to you later? I’m checking my e-mail.

This article seems a little misleading. The headline said email addiction is a sign of mental illness, but the article is about Internet addiction in general. I didn’t see any symptoms for text message addiction. At any rate, I don’t think text message is an addiction. Its a means to communicate with people. Text messaging is available on the most basic phones nowadays.

Only if the emails and text messages are work related.

Everything is an addiction or a mental illness these days. I’m waiting for the day a doctor is willing to diagnose my seemingly obsessive/compulsive work for a B.S. in physics as an illness.

The virtual world is viable. Just think if all those people went outsides and actually did something.

just like everything else in today’s society, lack of personal responsibility is being tossed off with an excuse. amazing- I wonder if
Bush has a staff of doctors to explain away his problems?

It seems to me that anytime people want to escape from personal responsibility we make up a new addiction or mental illness. If you are unable to function in society then maybe you have an addiction, if you simply choose not to then you probably have an issue.

Not addicted, just employed.

Most of my emails are jokes or something connected with my profession and I say this addiction is far better than watching the political circus going on all day on TV repeating the same news in hundred different versions by hundred different faces , which would drive me insane

Hey Jack,

If sending excessive E-mails and text messages is a sign of mental illness, there are a lot of jobs with ill people populating the work environment. Other than work, I try to respond to at least 2 of your 3 questions when I have a chance. However, when the media replayed the Pastor Wright video excessively I thought something was wrong with America’s news stations. Thank goodness you weren’t one of them Jack. However, someone in the Situation Room couldn’t help it.

Jack, I knew something was wrong with me, and now you tell me your Blogg has driven me crazy. Thanks a lot.

Jerry Wilson

Well if that is the case then I am suing my employers, past and present, for making me “mentally ill.” Afterall, I am required to do the majority of my work via email.

My, soon to be ex husband, hit on all THREE of the sings he listed! He works nights, comes home gets on the computer until about 2p.m. and then goes to bed… see why we have no marriage? I can call him when he is on the computer and ask him to take something out for supper and he totally blocks out that I have even called. He gets upset if I interrupt his “game playing”. ooohhh how I wish I could just disconnect it all, but alas, I have to have my email and be able to read articles online…. waaaahhhh

This is absolutely ridiculous! It might be an addiction for some, fine! But why does it have to be a mental illness?? Every decade/age has its “thing”! In the 70’s it used to be disco and being hippy! In the 80’s, it was something else! We live in the 21st century where instant connectivity to each other around the world through modern communication/entertainment devices is common; especially since people do not have adequate time to have family, friends due to increased compeition work. education pressure etc.!! What’s wrong with that?

The psychiatrists want it included in their list of illnesses just so that they can brainwash people to think that it is an illness making them to come visit them, so that the shrinks can make more money!

Well, I’m not so sure that ‘compulsive’ is necessarily the correct word. We live in a world where ‘instant’ and ‘live’ are the norm and expected in relation to telecommunications and media (CNN streams live almost constantly), so I think it’s an adaptation to our instant society. We are quick to send a text message or email because we know that in less than a minute, it will be in the hands of the intended party. It’s not like we have to write/type the letter on pen and paper (what’s THAT?), put a stamp on it, and put it in the mail - now affectionately known as snail mail.

However, for people that just lose it when they can’t get to a computer or their phone stops working, that’s another story. I think those people need some time away from their electronic devices so they can remember what life is REALLY like.

Do I think it should be considered a mental illness? No - we’ve adapted to the technology and learned how to keep up. But then again, they don’t call em CrackBerries for nothin.

i’d say it’s an ADDICTION! i’ve been thinking about this. just face it. it’ll be healthier–a possible road to recovery? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh…do i take 12 steps now?

Hmm. Can I get back to you later? I’m checking my e-mail.

Does this mean I’m mentally ill for responding to your question? I can see a whole new cottage industry of email addiction centers springing up all over the globe. My hours are….

Most Americans have been mentally disturbed for years. I had a long discussion about it with my social psychology professor 15 years ago while in college. America is the home of a pathologically disturbed society which breeds pathological personalities. All the denial is just more evidence of this.

Jack,
It’s not a sign of mental illness if you e-mail and text alot. It’s a way of venting at the idiots like King Bush and the do nothing but wrong congress. Jack you and Lou are the only ones that listen to the middle class. And while i’am venting, i will not vote for any of these candidates. McCain war hound, Obama amnesty lover, Clinton amnesty lover and married to Bill Clinton.
Carl

Jack: No, I don’t think it is a sign of mental illness.

People that bring their cell phones into the bathroom and talk now that is an illness.

Good Lord.. I hate to check my email. I am afraid I have spam spam spam.

So you thought you were going to trick me into e-mailing you, hunh, Jack. Doh!

The best way to tell is to try to take a day off from your computer and any other device you use for email–if you can’t do that there might be a problem. And while we’re on the subject, why did I sign up for those CNN news alerts? Am I really that afraid of missing something?

BTW, with 5 seconds of seing this, I just checked my email. Also tried political ticker

I think more than OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), electronic addiction = social isolation, and thus perhaps, contributory to schizoid disorders. It will be fascinating to see if schizophrenia becomes more prevalent over the next 50 years, if we do not kill ourselves off as a species before that. I suppose that’s paranoid, but things are closing in on us.

Quick question. Which is more vexing: spam, or junk mail brought as a snail’s gift?

I dont have a computer at home or a cell phone. Seems I am normal after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excessiveness in any form is cause for concern. “Online addiction” may be indicative of… sorry, I have to go, I’ve got mail.

The first poster above said: “Well Jack if that is true, then the majority of Americans are mentally ill.”. Just visit any typical ‘cube’ working toiling away in the bit-mines of soulless corporations. Talk about mental illness.

Electronic distractions, especially texting and e-mail, are designed to keep us away from life, to keep us from actually having to do any work to talk or get to know other people, to keep us from caring about the world or caring about the animals, plants, and creatures we share this the environment with. It further alienates us.

It is worse than mental illness. Like the rest of modern man and our cities, is a cancer eating away at our nervous system and debasing our soul.

Why does cnn allow Dinosaurs blog about technology?

I honestly think that a classic saying applies here: “Too much of anything is a bad thing.”

People have to learn to take all things in moderation. Whenever you get so addicted to something that it affects relationships and other areas of your life, you’ve gone too far.

This same question could be asked about obsessive gaming, about your job (being a workaholic) and about tons of “hobbies.” So why is email or texting any different…?

People who have these addictions aren’t sick, Jack. They may need help, but they are by no means sick. To be sick usually implies you’ve got a problem through no fault of your own.

If I eat at fast food all the time and gain hundreds of pounds, am I sick or just unwise? I think society today labels too many things sicknesses that are really just a lack of good judgement.

How about myspace addiction? I know some people whose whole world revolves around logging into myspace for hours every day.
What a waste of time!

Jack is also a dinosaur, new generations today want to be connected and in touch with everyone. Sitting at home on your computer playing warcraft 24hrs a day could be a sign of an illness, but usually relates to a form of depression or social anxiety.. the computer is there so they might as well use it!

Jack,

Yes, it has become a serious illness. I have learned to tell when a person is hooked. Watch how they use their thumbs that were once used for helping the other fingers hold something. They use their thumbs on both hands almost exclusively.

Why are you and everyone else always following me and questioning my every action? Go away or else I’ll send my flying monkeys to deal with you.

Jack, thanks. You have shed light on what I have always suspected due to the size of my inbox at work everyday… Corporate America is full of mentally ill people. Now I understand why I am so frustrated!

The thing about mental illness is that it’s generally not self-diagnosable. The mentally ill aren’t generally very self aware (pre-diagnosis).

It is very much a question of degrees. All of us are uncomfortable when out of our routines or when things we like and use are not available.

If it really drives you up a wall, you may have a diagnosable condition. If you feel a little bit out of your element, that’s normal.

I can’t find a button to email this article to my husband. What does that mean that I’m trying to email a link for this article? It can’t be good.

Making up lies to invade sovereign nations is a sign of mental illness. But seriously, many “conveniences” of the internet age are leading to unhealthy social behaviors. I’d rather take my chances meeting ladies in person than trying to meet “my perfect soulmate” through places like eHarmony.

Is driving your car on a daily bases a mental illness also? I dont think being online for excessive times is an illness. Unless a person is making every possible excuse to stay online. In that case…yes they have an illness and they need help.

Really, though, is this just an attempt to drum up business for a dying group known as psychologists? If they can define more diseases, then they can continue charging to treat those diseases. Think about it. If the majority of people did as this article described, then the majority could define the minority (those not desiring more email or computer time) as mentally ill. Disorder is always defined by the powerful of society.

I don’t know, but I’ll bet the mayor of Detroit wish he’d never used it.

The irony is, the Internet has expanded my world, not contracted it. I don’t feel more isolated - actually, I am able to be in touch with people I otherwise wouldn’t be able.

Sometimes, I think if you ask the right psychiatrist, breathing is a mental disorder…

*sigh*

Well if it is, then I guess we’ll soon have another 12 step program available to us! I guess I’d better pry myself off the computer and tuck it away now. But first, let me load back up on my cigarettes and get a pint of Jack. Then I can quit!

In the long run, compared to these other more serious issues of addiction, why are wasting our time on computer users and e-mailers?! At least the computer habits aren’t nearly as physically / emotionally destructive as other ones that could be formed by people with addictive personalities!

Excess of ANY activity shows mental issues. Drinking, shopping, sex, washing hands repeatedly. All good things. When done in excess, (with the exception of sex, of course) these are all mental issues. Excessive email/blackberry tapping as one drives, walks down the street on a fog, sits in the back of meetings is definitely a problem. When someone near me does it, it drives ME crazy.

I always wonder, when I see a driver near me, jabbering away on their cell phone to such a degree they’re fogging their car windows, weaving from lane to lane, or driving in the fast lane at 23 MPH, how this person could have possibly survived a few short years ago when there were no cell phones. What can be so incredibly important to require a cell phone in one hand, a latte in the other, and driving with a knee?

Emails are just a form of communication that’s less intrusive than face-to-face interaction. Time is becoming more valuable in today’s society. Send or receive an email and you can spend your free time writing or responding. I think it puts you in control of how you allocate your time. It can eliminates small talk.

I hate computers.

I don’t know, Jack, since I am using e-mail to do this I must be mentally ill and if thats the case I am in no position to give you a coherent answer.

Love ya Jack - keeping up the good work!!!

Sadly, this may be true. I often get very anxious if I do not get a response to my emails right away. I’ll check my email 30 to 40 times an hour. If I don’t get any emails I assume something must be wrong with the server or the connection and I start getting angry. I’ll smash the keyboard repeatedly, and slap the monitor. If that doesn’t work I’ll restart the computer 5 or 6 times. I’ll get up at 3 AM just to see if a joke I’d sent out roused some good responses from friends.
I first realized I had a problem when I began resorting to petty crimes to drum up some money for a wireless mouse, or one of those new fangled wide screen HD monitors. I’ll do anything to squeeze as many mbps out of my internet service provider. When I need an email fix I want it in nanoseconds. A milisecond can seem like an eternity spent in cyberspace hell.

Sure, e-mail can be addictive. Just like anything else - coffee, cigarettes, meth, chocolate, presidential aspirations…. It does seem to be more prevalent among managerial types and the sub-25 generation; those folks can’t be away from their “connection” for more than half an hour before they drive everyone else nuts. As for the rest of us, we probably get enough of it at work, so it has exactly zero attraction after that. As for me - I need another cup of coffee and a cigarette. See you later!

Jack,
You are absolutely right . But you really touched a nerve with this one. Look at all the guilty e-mailers defending their “way of life.” Freud would love this.

Nonsense Jack! LOL omg btw your my BFF on CNN

Mark

You people are so corney!!! Of course he’s not talking about you if you only send a few emails etc. Now, if replying to Jack is your 985th email today, then yes, you need to get yourself checked, very soon.
I have 3 girls, 21, 19, and 15, yes, they text alot, yes they email alot, but then again, it’s also a way for US to keep in touch in this busy world!! I’m glad my girls use their texting and email to keep me posted thru out the day! Thank you,

Jack,
No, for the most part I don’t see excessive email and texting as a form of mental illness. It seems to me this is the new mode of communication for a new generation in the 21st century. I’m 60 and my son is 16….he seems to have evolved an intuitive relationship to his computer, cell phone, email, Facebook and Myspace pages. In addition he uses instant messaging and other forms of electronic communication in a completely new level of multi-tasking communication that makes my head spin. Its a brave new world, Jack….and its for our kids to swim in those waters.

I have been trying to warn my children for quite some time, about what I am seeing as a dangerous habit that they are getting into. I know that my teenage daughters choose to text over calling friends and boyfriends. They often text things that they wouldn’t have the nerve to voice in a phone call…. and believe me, it is often something that they should be choosing not to say. - They become bold….and they need to keep in mind, that those texts can be forwarded just as they often forward texts that they have received. Texting is now something that can warrant punishment if done too late at night or during classroom hours…….yeesh, it never ends!

IT can be a sign of a bad habit, a sign of a lonely person, a sign of a society that had chosen to interact invisibly instead of in person. We used to write letters and now we emal or IM. The only sad part of that is writing (taking the time to physically manually write) was more personal. Now we are no longer personal. And those on the internet can take on other personas or assume power they don’t really have by hiding behind a screen name. Check out chat rooms. Chat rooms are microcosms of society with people in there being bullies, or assuming they can decide who joins the room or not. And for teens/kids/hackers, instead of prank calls to Ima Weiner, they can now send you viruses to destroy your computer. Is it an illness? Maybe for a very small percentage but for the other 99.9 its just an excuse.

people who use email are crazy and eat their babies. It’s true.

Email and texting is not a sign of mental illness. Everyone is so quick to jump to mental illness and drugs these days. If the internet went down tomorrow, would a lot of people be really upset? OF COURSE! If the stockmarket crashed tomorrow, people would be upset. If the oil we use day in and day out was gone tomorrow, most everyone would be upset. If the power went off in an entire city for one week, I’m sure those people would be mentally ill because they demanded their power be turned back on. It’s communication, and it’s life… The people who make up these “mental illnesses” are the ones who need to see a doctor. Not the people who have found that technology might actually better their lives. Next I’ll be hearing that the stress we get from driving cars could all be avoided if we go back to horses being pulled by wagons.

Mental illness? Doubtfully! Social withdrawal? Most certainly!

I wouldn’t know. I never have enough time away from the computer to worry about silly things like that. Hang on I have a text message coming in.

Jack, this is my 137th answer to this question and the answer is still No.

Mark, Berry, Ky

Nonsense Jack! LOL omg btw your my BFF on CNN

Mark

Toronto, ON

No, it’s not a sign of mental illness. It’s just a bunch of psychiatrists trying to make more money by creating more criteria by which to declare us all mentally ill. I’ve dealt with psychiatrists both on a personal level with family members and on a professional level when I worked for them. While I’m sure there are exceptions, what I experienced was that they cared more about the insurance money and the co-pays than they did about the patients. Tom Cruise isn’t far off the mark when he calls psychiatry bunk science, IMHO.

I don’t have a problem. I can stop at any time. Really…….

Jack:
Is there a help line where I can get assistance with not e-mailing at all? I mean, I’m terrified to come into work in the morning and start up my computer when I know those e-mails are in there. It’s dreadful. Oh no, get ‘em off me!!!

Jack,

I find it to be a strategy more than an illness. I would rather deal with matters/issues in real time versus letting them pile up. Working in real time provides me with a more mobile lifestyle and actually allows me to spend more time with my family.

Look at all the comments you get on your blogs Jack, I think you know the answer to that question, What would you do without us!!!!!!

Jack ,I can’t stop laughing, I’m starting to tear-up, this is beautiful, the best question ever! I’m a poor person that can’t afford a 41cent stamp! Thus I send E-mails ,but to answer your question , truth is stranger then fiction, and artificial intelligence has got us all by the ying ,and yang! The “Not-So”,Neo-Dem?

I would bet that I probably have it. Mental addiction to email, that is. I carry my laptop with me everywhere, in the hopes of hitting a Wi-Fi hotspot randomly. My Blackberry is constantly on my right hip to keep me in touch with my job; and my PPC 6700 (pocket PC) is on my left hip to keep me in touch with my family and friends. So, between the two mobile devices and my laptop, I send/receive well over 1000 emails and txts a day. Yep, I am an addict. All I can say, its freakin sweet to live in an era where I can have an addiction like this!! I love my gadgets.

Maybe it helps people to feel more connected to others, and to society at large. Unlike watching television, it requires your input. Unlike tatting doilies, it may have a use, but probably not. When it takes the place of physical letters, it may be more permanent, because somehow the communication is still out there in cyberspace. It may outlast us all. Yet, it seems to show us that there are those with the leisure to do this (the way they once might have played bridge all afternoon) and there are those who, in some distant third world country, provide the means to that leisure, cheap labor. Is it really so different from previous ages? I do think it is a sign that society is a bit decadent. It kind of runs afoul of the “no idle hands” ethic. It is a measure of how much idle time we have, and thus an indicator of worldly power.

Jack forget about e-mail and the computer being a mental illness, how about U.S. Presidential elections! Now there’s a mental illness

The medical community for look for anything it can to call something an “illness’. I think people are more interested in the technology than the “addiction”. And people like to be social…so this gives the “shy” person an outlet without being critized or judged. I imagine South Koreans just want to be able to communicate for a change instead of being isolated.

So if I love to crochet or read…does that dub me obsessed? Or relaxed and literate?

My therapist, with whom I am in constant contact via e-mail and IM, does not seem to think I have an addiction to e-mail, nor she think I need to be diagnosed as being mentally unstable. Her therapist, whom she is in constant contact via e-mail and IM, agrees. The only problem I do have is a severe case of carpel tunnel syndrome from this stupid non-ergonomic key board I use 18 - 20 hours a day.

Well Jack if it is then I am nutty as a fruitcake.

Austin Texas

I’m not sure about everywhere, but in the work place it seems like email has become popular for two reasons:
1) It allows you to get in touch with someone who might otherwise be busy, and to get responses from them (albeit on their own time)

2) It allows people to “throw their problems” over the fence at someone else, and not have to face them in person. How many times have you responded to an inquiry by saying “Well, I sent so-and-so an email, but haven’t heard anything back yet.”?

Pick up the phone, or better yet, go talk to someone.

Email adiction seems to have all the ear marks of gaming adiction but the shrinks do not want to recognize it…at least yet. Technology seems to addict some. Usually mental illness is defined by an activity that interferes with dailing living,work, home, and relations.

Hang on………I think I have an email

Alexander Grahme Bell had no clue that his invention could lead some to breathe heavily and/or whisper sweet dirties to the listener. Why then are we surprised when emailing, texting, instant messaging has become an obsessive compulsion? The same applies to those who researched and developed the potential for computers and the worldwide web. Did they have a clue that relationships would suffer because of spouses/partners spending too much time in chat rooms, game rooms or instant messaging? Did they know that children would be prey to pedophiles and worse? Were they aware that cheating on one’s relationship via text or webcam was to become commonplace? If I had my druthers, I’d trade in my Ford for a horse and my computer for a yellow pad and #2 pencil……ahhh for the good old days when men were men and women were silent.

It can be O/C just like anything else. But it doesn’t mean we all got it, and I don’t think he was suggesting that. But it’s definitely real.

Jack, I’d like to write but I’m too busy ruminating about my next e-mail. Got a go.

Well It’s obvious jack, the republicans have taken all the after school programs from the schools, and the best resources out there for the kids is the INTERNET.
They spend most of their times on the internet doing homeworks and playing games.

It’s driving them insane.

Frome james M. of stone mountain GA

If psychiatrists didn’t atleast spend a certain portion of their day convincing the masses they are all crazy, then they wouldn’t have any patients. If they didn’t have any patients, then they wouldn’t have any income. If they didn’t have any income, then they wouldn’t be able to pay off the student loans that went towards a wasted education.

I haven’t met one psychiatrist that didn’t have realllllly weird kids.

In the mean-time, I’ll continue to waste my life emailing people jokes, thusly engaging in mentally ill behavior.

The mantra used to be “lawyers? just shoot em”; beware psychiatrists, you could be the new “mantra.”

The purveyors of therapeutic intervention never cease to amaze me with their non-evidenced based pronouncements. Any behavior to an extreme is fodder for inquiry. OCD is the current keyword for most mental health professionals. I would imagine Jack that there is addiction to the internet when during the use of a computer there is a continuous washing of the fingers mixed in with a splash or two of surfing porno, etc. First it was carpal tunnel syndrome and now it is obsessive compulsion. Just when I thought I had my health care costs contained, another health issue arises. I cannot afford all of these new disorders.

Mental illness or not, it IS destroying our ability to socialize. I am tired of having lunches with business associates, or friends fo rthat matter, constantly interrupting our conversation to answer their cell phones or an e-mail message. Or spending the entire lunch looking at the top of your guest’s head as they hunch over working their Blackberry.

Until we get away from the expectation that we need to ALWAYS be available to everyone at any time, these behaviours will continue to adversely affect our ability to relax and enjoy the moment and the people in it.

Is it an attempt to divert from your unfair question on McCain’s age and his ability to run America?

Probably, if it becomes an obsession. I myself am fiftysix and just learned to use the internet last year. I was resistent to it. I certainly am not a techie. I email my son and daughter-in-law and my granchildren. After watching you and Wolf all the time,I decided to write into you. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but now it has become a natural part of my day - when I am home. I don’t even know how to text nor take pictures with my picture cell phone. As with everything else -Moderation is the key to sanity!

What an idiotic article, slow news day?

Yes and compounded by people like Jack Cafferty.

What I find interesting is that when I did a search for internet addiction support groups, all the ones I could find were ONLINE!! Does anyone else find that a little interesting??
I compare that to having AA meetings in a bar. Probably not the best idea.
Btw, I am addicted to the internet. :-/

I think it is important to understand that obsessive-compulsive disorders INTERFERE with one’s daily routine. If you are sending emails, texts, on checking the internet regulary but still eating, sleeping, waking and socializing regularly, then I wouldn’t consider it a problem. But I would most definately say that there are a number of individuals out there that have become obsessed with thechnology and can not control their urges to text, email or check the internet. Those individuals may truly have a mental disorder, if they CAN NOT control their use of time on-line and it interferes with their daily routine. OCD can come out in many rituals, counting, checking, sorting, cleaning, handwashing …..why not texting or e-mailing?

If you are referring to it from the perspective of social networking, you may be right.

However, from a business perspective, today’s technology has developed expectations that would have seemed to be science fiction only 15 years ago. Today, deliberate email in business (as opposed to spamming or cc’ing the world) is a necessary tool for many of us to multi-task so extensively that it seems ludicrous. And, no, I’m NOT advocating or suggesting texting or emailing while driving, etc, but the tool DOES allow us to have multiple activity threads extremely active at once.

Excuse me, but my email chime just sounded. I’m expecting a time-critical email from a national task force that I’m working with, so I’ve gotta go.

I believe its my right to communicate with the outside world as much as I want, when I want, without being labeled crazy. You’ll email me back, won’t you???? Won’t you?? Please???? Sorry, don’t have time for this, I still have to email Lou, Glenn, Anderson, Robin, Erica, Rick, Sanjay, and Wolf. Gotta go.

No, Jack. We are all addictive to one thing or another. The difference is only in degree. Welcome to a normal human condition.

Al in San Antonio.

Jack,
Seems to me to be a sign of our inflated egos. Everybody wants to be heard. Like, we each have the answer and can’t wait for the rest of the world to acknowledge it.

Jack,
I really had to think about this one but after taking a Valium and a couple of Xanax, I feel a lot better.

It’s just another way for these Dr.’s and therapists to make more money. What’s next a pharmaceutical company will come out with a prescription to help you break the addiction.

Cheap way to boost your ratings and the traffic on this site.

I can stop anytime, just ask my husband!!!!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

i would say so; look at how many the white house has deleted; and what were in those messages?????

AMNESTY IS TREASON!

I don’t think that it is so much a metal illness as a social illness, we seem to not want to actually talk or meet with people any more.

“The Machine Stops” written by E.M Forster in 1909 should be manditory reading before any gets an internet account.

I guess you have a point there, because spammers are definitely mentally ill.

Jack -

I think we may have a problem. E-mail and text have taken over our lives. I turn my sound off on my phone while at work, which leaves me constantly looking at my phone every 30 seconds just to see if I have a message from someone. And, if I don’t have a message from someone, I HAVE to text a friend a random message just so I get a text back. It’s driving me crazy - i’m almost 30 years old - I can’t let it go. Please help….

Your Question:
Here’s my question to you: Is sending excessive e-mails and text messages a sign of mental illness?

Are we supposed to email you the answer?

For Brian of Idaho, “I hope your not the one that is playing fake daddy to my son.” The comment reminded me of something the gentleman I am speaking about would say. Since your comment was sending a “Virus Bomb”, it is obvious that you suffer from some kind of mental illness, regardless if you are the person in question or not.

As for a true resonse; people can become addicted to just about anything which generally always proves a type/degree of mental illness. There are different levels of addiction, so depending on the degree of addiction would equal the degree of mental illness.

Hey Jack,

Have you considered how this and stories like it are related to the attack on the 2nd Amendment in your country? When the government can call you crazy, (and they are coming up with as many ways to do that as possible) eventually they will be able to dictate that you can’t own a gun. Bit by bit, piece by piece the people are beginning to wake up. The question is will it be too late?

Without obsessive idiots like us, where would your job be? You might have to actually work for a living.

I don’t need to email and leave messages like this. I just like it a lot. I can quit anytime.

Really,. I can.

No, it’s no addiction. Just a sign that the baby boomers are not in touch with the gen xers and the millennial. To those of us under 33, texting, emails, cell phones, and social networks are merely another way to communicate. To those over 33 or those not so computer savvy all this communication is sensory overload and unnecessary. Remember that you are used to potentially slow outmoded forms of communication that to my generation and under just seem utterly ridiculous.

Some of us respond to Jack’s column every day, opposing his liberal rhetoric. I’m assuming this question is supposed to get to those of us who write in frequently and disagree with what Jack says. This question is supposed to make us wonder if there’s something wrong with US, as opposed to his opinions. Not working, Jack. Some of us love news and we love defending our position. Doesn’t in any way make us mentally ill. But nice try getting us to shut our traps. Won’t work though.

Jack. Is sending excessive emails and text messaging an addiction? Sure it is. When kids start developing carpal tunnel syndrome and other physical problems because they have to text their friends all day, I can’t see how it isn’t an addiction. Take me back to the days of old when, if you wanted to text someone, you wrote a letter. At least letters have heart. Texting is just one ramble after another with no end in sight.

Duane

Leslie, Michigan

I think when it connects us to family and friends, it’s a great thing - we all need that connection especially today when the world seems to be going crazy. If it connects us 24/7 to work, that is NOT a good thing - it seems it gets harder and harder to find that all-too-precious “down time” that we all need so desperately, even if we don’t know it.

What I think is really a sign of mental illness is not the emails but video game addiction such as World of Warcraft. My girlfriend is so addicted that she complains about her computer being to slow and noe she has taken over mine to play the game which she will play for a good 6 or more hous a day. I get home from work and if I want to use my computer there are arguments and much anger from her. She wont let me use her computer because she has World of Warcraft add ons on that and she is paranoid that I might corrupt her files.
This is a big danger. Online video game addiction is like virtual crack.

Insanity, during the same thing over and over again getting the same result (addition)

Is there a meeting I can go to for help………….online if possible….

Lets see, you are asking the mentally ill if they are mentally ill?

Some people may use email excessively, or feel a sense of obligation to reply to most emails they receive from friends and family (like me), but it should not be seen as a sign of mental illness unless someone is obsessed to the point where it affects their actual daily interactions with spouses, partners, colleagues, children. Email should be likened to any mass communication innovation; the telephone changed how people interacted when it arrived on the scene, and many people probably worried about how it was impacting society in the same way people are wringing their hands about email.

It’s like anything else we have in our society. We abuse it. Email and txt messaging has been in-grained into our being now. Sort like the commercial on TV.

Clinical psychologist are standing in a room observing a person on the internet or text messaging, one of the psychologist turns the network off in the room and the person who is on the computer starts to freak out…….cries. They turn it back on and you see him go back to normal. You’d think he won a million dollars…..It’s not a mental illness…..its a very dangerous drug……..

I see it as maybe a mild form of mental illness, right next to excessive cell phone use. The need for members of our society to be in constant communication with each other, appears to be a form of co-dependency, lack of self esteem, etc…which borders on depression, addiction illnesses. No offence intended to all of you addicts.

Jack, sadly I believe this to be a compulsive disorder than can affect you mentally. However, it is not the e-mailing of spending time on the internet — it is the fact that these are places where people can hide their compulsive behavior. Mary

Technically, by repeatedly posting a blog you’re also displaying a sort of mental illness by your standards.

Is excessive emailing a sign of mental illness? No. Some people move away from their families and let’s face it — now it’s cheaper to shoot off a long winded e-mail than call on a phone or a huge written letter.

Can some who do this have an illness? Yes. The internet is not a substitute for reality which, as most of us have experienced, is far better than the jollies of virtual reality.

The internet is still a novelty for many so it’s awesome that what used to take many days to get to Los Angeles from New York can hit in just seconds. It’s keeping those far away closer to us more often.

However, isn’t it kind of lame to expect us to voice our opinions into you via e-mail? Pot, you’re most definitely black.

In extreme cases, yes, they are insane and need therapy.

I have been forced to work with and travel with a few people who are so obsessed with email and cell calls, they have almost killed us all trying to simultaneouly read email, text messages, yak / yell on their cell, and drive the rental car all at the same time (driving getting the lowest priority and attention) -

I think there are two ways to tell if someone is mentally ill / email-crazy:

1) - Cannot skip, ignore or miss any text , email, or cell call … incredibly rude, will stop continuously in mid conversation with a “live” person to answer cell/text/email, stop walking, hollering on the cell in a small packed elevator, RESTAURANTS, etc. or worst of all,

2) - DRIVING a car, losing focus on the road and conditions, endangering everyone in the car and the vehicles around them. These people should be ticketed / arrested / shot.

I am not sure if it’s a mental illness. Let me think about it and I will get back to you after I finish reading all my emails from 1,362 of my “friends” on myspace.

I work at an ISP. I know the amount of time people waste on gay forwarded email. It’s mostly old people because they don’t have anything better to do. Here’s some advice to the elderly reading this comment, get off your wrinkled ass and do something productive before you kick the bucket. But don’t drive because it’s too dangerous for other people. It’s not an addiction, it’s just laziness. People would rather spend time feeling significant behind a computer monitor in their chat rooms by lying about every thread of their existence. Most of these types are on welfare and have no jobs, with computers that double as ashtrays. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Jack, asking a question like this & expecting a blog response is like asking an overweight compulsive eater to discuss their problems over a double cheeseburger with fries & gravy. It’s an ironic oxymoron.

Dain Brammaged!

Everything these day’s is a “illness”…it would probably be easier to say what “isn’t an illness” than what is…. It’s a sad state of affairs, to say the least.