Who's in charge anyway?

“Tweet Less,Kiss More” urges a recent Bob Herbert column in The New York Times. To date 237 readers have posted online comments. A letter to the editor asks, “who will be the first to say, ‘enough?’” As someone who’s a little more plugged in than she’d like to be, I think the question is, rather, “Who’s in charge here anyway, the gadget or me?”

Admittedly, the lure of the ringing phone is hard to resist. It’s almost a revolutionary act to let it ring, though, of course, we can screen. And, okay, it is a kick to go from “when did Alf Landon run against FDR” to “1936” in under a second. And who knows who may have sent an e-mail since we last looked ten minutes ago. Hmmm...500 Business Cards for $1.99... Oh. In his new book, “Hamlet’s Blackberry,” William Powers theorizes that we may be evolutionarily programmed to respond to the ping, the ring, the link. And there’s no doubt that it keeps us connected in one way, even as it disconnects us in another.

But I’m feeling it’s time for me to be the boss of me, or at least of my time. Maybe time management is the new portion control--another difficult concept in our much-much-more-is-better world So here and now I’m taking a public pledge to take control of my time. It’s the only worldly good I really have, right? So why should someone or something else be in charge? I’m promising myself to check e-mail less, be online less, be connected more to the unplugged world. Maybe you’d like to think about that, too--except for reading my blog posts, of course.