There’s an article in Sunday’s New York Times (11/22/09) that illustrates just how far our dependence on gadgets has gone. Many people who have correctly concluded that driving while using their cellphone is dangerous, are buying devices that disable their cellphones while they’re driving. Understanding their “addiction” to cellphone use, they don’t trust themselves to rely on the off-button.

Companies that employ drivers are interested in these devices, too.  As one executive of a company that has adopted a call-blocking system put it, “We realized we had to go beyond education and policy. You’re going against human nature here, so you need something that works independently of that.”

An partner in a company that makes  cellphone blocking devices is quoted as saying, “If we could control ourselves, we wouldn’t need any of this technology . . . We know it’s such a bad habit, but we crave being connected.”

Some people think that using hands-free technologies is the answer. However, research shows that talking on the phone while driving makes you four times as likely to have an accident. It’s not the hands that are the problem, it’s the fact that people become so engrossed in their conversations that they can’t pay sufficient attention to their driving.

So here we have another confirmation of the fact that our brains cannot multitask when it comes to paying attention. We can only switch back and forth between two tasks. This is one of the main themes of my new book Conquer CyberOverload: Get More Done, Boost Your Creativity, and Reduce Stress. It’s due out on December 15th.  For more information or to pre-order, visit the web site.