I heard a new phrase on the radio a few days ago: Blackberry Orphans. These are the poor children of parents who own Blackberry personal information managers. You've seen these folks. They are "texting" and playing with their Blackberries all the time, everywhere, to the total exclusion of human interaction.

A friend of mine refers to these devices as Crackberries because they are (apparently) as addictive as crack cocaine and users can't help themselves.

Not too long ago I was in a sales meeting and the prospect was listening to voicemail messages while trying to hold a conversation with me. He was actually pretending that he wasn't playing with his Blackberry, but he clearly missed half of what was said. 

Perhaps you've heard the phrase "Driving while distracted." This refers to operating a car while using a cell phone, fiddling with the radio, looking at a stock ticker, and so forth. More and more research shows that almost any activity you do while driving distracts you from the job at hand -- driving.

The reason is quite obvious: distraction means that you are taking your focus off the one thing you're supposed to be doing.

This is the same problem most of us have with our lives as a whole:

We're living while distracted.

While we're in one meeting, we're thinking about the next. While talking to someone, we're thinking about someone else. And while we're working on one project, we're totally interruptible. Which means we're almost never

Focusing

on the task at hand.

Some people say that their family comes first, but they're not able to leave work at five or six PM. Ever. Day after day, week after week, year after year. And once they're home, the TV dominates the scene. Or, if they own a Blackberry, it's always on, always in reach, and always available to interrupt whatever's going on.

In our personal lives, living while distracted means we never take the time to relax and enjoy our families as we should. We don't give people the attention they deserve. And we pay the price in relationships.

At work, living while distracted means that we rarely have the opportunity to focus our energy on one project at a time and to give it our best effort. So we become interrupt-driven. We never quite complete a project, or do the best job we can, because something else comes along.

The fix for distraction is simple and obvious.

Disciplined, focused activity can be extremely productive. Interrupt-driven activity can never be very productive. You have to choose. And if you're a manager, you need to choose for your staff.

Distractions get bigger all the time.

As technology advances on one hand (making our lives better), it encroaches on the other.

It's a wonderful thing that I can fly half way around the world, open my laptop and cell phone, and they just work. People call me and don't know I'm on vacation. But my wife has a different perspective. "Do these people know you're on vacation?"

Living while distracted.

With a "Crackberry" I can answer emails in the hot tub, during my child's play, at the Thanksgiving table, and in the movie theater. I can be "on" and "available" all the time and never -- ever -- give 100% of my attention to anyone or anything.

As technology advances, we need to make sure we set some boundaries. Because the ability to be always on and always available will increase every year.

And don't think you have to be a techno-goober to suffer from distraction. Oh, no. Technology makes it easier to be distracted, but living while distracted has been around forever.

Medieval monks went away into isolation in order to escape the distractions of daily life and focus on what's important. Jesus and Moses both went up in the mountains to get away from the crowds and pray.

We all need to etch out time and space to tend to ourselves as humans.

We all need time and space to nurture our relationships with family and friends.

We all need time and space to contribute in a positive way to our community.

We all need time and space to focus our attentions at work so we can be more productive and our company more profitable.