Sometimes it feels like my e-mail, social networking and blogging is getting in the way of my full-time job. Sometimes it feels … the other way around. 

I’ve taken to checking in with my Facebook friends first thing in the morning and then again late in the afternoon.  I’m still not tweeting with any regularity and substance.  I think I need a “101” with one of my colleagues for whom the whole Twitter thing is very much second nature.  

E-mail is a whole different creature. Unless I’m otherwise engaged with a client, a prospect or an organization with which I’m involved, e-mail always breaks in on whatever I happen to be doing. I know, on an intellectual level, that I don’t have to respond immediately to every little ‘ping’ when a new e-mail message arrives, and I know, again, in my head, that if someone really, REALLY needs me, they probably will actually call, on the office line or my mobile phone. I know these things, but I’m like Pavlov’s dumb but trainable dog … when I hear the ‘ping,’ I turn and look to see who is reaching out to me and why.

I blog when an idea hits me (like now) because it’s cleansing on the one hand to share these musings and neuroses of mine, and on the other, it’s comforting when I hear back from someone who is similarly afflicted with this … how should I put it … technology related syndrome. Hmmm. TRS. Big Pharma needs to look into this. 

Today, I had lunch with a client, got a radio spot recorded, talked to a prospect on the phone, did some writing and editing, put the final touches on a proposal and responded to or disposed of dozens of e-mails, a number of quick Facebook hits and learned I was being followed on Twitter by someone I don’t know (sorry, but that’s creepy).  

Just another day at the office. ‘Ping.’ Oh, excuse me please?