Do you associate with other technophiles online? Are you unable to stop checking for e-mail or SMS messages during family or social time? Do you bathe in the lambent glow of your iPhone in darkened movie theaters?

If so, you may suffer from a "dangerous addiction" to technology, according to Nada Kakabadse, a professor of management and business research at University of Northampton in the United Kingdom.

In a research paper entitled "Technology Overload: Explaining, Diagnosing, And Dealing With Techno-Addiction," Kakabadse describes the symptoms and risks of excessive affinity for technology.

"Being hooked into ICT [information and communication technology] devices and ignoring 'offline' social interaction can lead to chronic insomnia, relationship break-up, job-loss, premature burn-out and accidents as a result of inattentiveness to daily detail," Kakabadse warns. "The harm to both the individual and society is immense. Idolatry of ICT gadgets such as the PDA, BlackBerry, mobile phone, has serious consequences, especially when 'online' behavior begins to interfere with an 'offline' life."

Kakabadse sees technology addiction as a vicious circle. "The more people we connect to, the more technology we need to manage these connections, the worse the quality of interactions and relationships," she observes.

Those in the tech community tend to trivialize such concerns, referring to the BlackBerry as "CrackBerry" wryly, without the sort of shame or denial that might be offered by a true crack addict confronted with his or her addiction. And yet the practice of displaying unboxing photos -- virgin devices photographed as they're unpacked and unwrapped -- on gadget sites suggests a level of fetishism that deserves further study, if not medication.

Whether technophilia deserves to be pathologized, to be characterized as abnormal and deserving of clinical treatment, is an open question and one that will be debated for years to come. But the negative effects Kakabadse identifies -- relationships ruined by online obsessions, familial neglect, and stress, for example -- are real and well-documented.

Beyond individual well-being, Kakabadse's concerns have a bearing on organizational health.

"Workplace interactions should, above all, do no harm," she says. "People desire 'quality work,' of course, but also something more. For employers, the compression of time created by ICT and the increased workload fosters a loss of the human dimension in the workplace, sponsoring compressed, dehumanized interactions. As a consequence, the 'standard' work environment is increasingly compact, fearful, isolating, bureaucratic, and legalistic; and managed by accountable interactions that are atomized and inauthentic, and by work assignments that erode autonomy and a sense of personal identity."

Technology addiction is "a kind of elephant in the room -- everyone sees it, but no one wants to acknowledge it," Kakabadse says. "If society is truly concerned with quality of life, then the need for serious discussion concerning the impact of ICT on employee work practices and work-life balance is now critical."

(Those who'd like to contribute to Kakabadse's research might consider participating in an online survey.)