I used to work with a guy who was addicted to his BlackBerry. Whether he was in a meeting, eating lunch, or just having a conversation, he was always fiddling with the tiny keyboard and chuckling at some private joke. It really bugged me, because he never seemed to be entirely present.

Well, it’ll be interesting to see whether I fare any better at resisting the siren song of instant messaging, GPS and beeping calendar reminders: I’ve purchased my first iPhone.

I spent much of my morning considering an assortment of applications, ranging from Paris metro maps to interactive workout logs.  I’ve also input my birthday and anniversary reminders into iCal. Never mind that the same information is already in my Filofax.

Ordinarily I’d consider this a colossal waste of time. But today it happens to be just what the doctor ordered. (As it turns out, a new iPhone is the perfect distraction from the nasty side effects of food poisoning.) Thank you, shiny little time-vampire!