The term “Crackberry Addict,” now a pop culture term, was coined by Paul Levy, President of Boston’s Beth Israel Medical Center. He confesses to being a recovering “Crackberry Addict” himself. “I know the result of such over reliance —manners disappear, relationships disappear..….people have a craving to get back to it.” (The“it” can be a cell phone or an addiction to checking our text or email messages every 30 seconds.)

Last year Levy quit cold turkey, and he says he has discovered marvelous things: “The sun rises in the morning and sets at night.”

Technology addiction comes in many forms: video games, laptops, I pods, cell phones, IM’ing. We’ve all felt dismissed, frustrated, annoyed and certainly disengaged from the techno addicts surrounding us….or we may look in the mirror and see one blankly staring back at us.

The casualties of the digital age have resulted in the first of “Wii-itis”— intense physical pain from playing the Wii video game system for too long. Physicians are already familiar with “Nintendinitis.”

So what are the symptoms that reveal our shift from responsible, appropriate, and essential use of technology into a state of addiction, and is “addiction” too melodramatic a word to use?

Dr. Kim Young, the Clinical Psychologist who wrote the first book on Internet Addiction,believes there are indeed diagnosable signals: an intense preoccupation and inability to control (much less STOP) use of technology; use of technology as an escape, and, finally, putting technology use above personal relationships.

The other side of the debate asserts we are all addicted to the use of technology, in thesame way we are addicted to the use of cars. They are an essential means to an end.Our companies demand—and we as consumers expect—instant communication and accountability. Not a bad thing.

So it comes down to the choices we make in this area—between responsibility and habitual need and between instant gratification and long-term fulfillment.  In fact, Microsoft has teamed up with etiquette experts at The Finishing Academy to produce a guide to the correct situation, form, and manner of communicating with others in our fast-paced and competitive environment.

We are a connected business world, but many principles of common courtesy and relationship building remain the same, no matter the technology—from cell phone to Blackberry to emails.

Here are three suggestions I will make in order to enhance your Technology Presence:

1. Conscientiously—and consciously–work on your technology “presence.”   Some people’s emails are immediately dismissed because they know what’s coming: a silly joke, a tirade, an irrelevant copy of another email. Communicate strategically and well, no matter the medium. Leave a voice mail with “presence,” use the cell phone and Blackberry discretely and appropriately: turn away from your “screen addiction,” make eye contact, and communicate person to person.

2. Evaluate how people want to be contacted—such as, evaluating generational differences and communication preferences. Emailing or texting certain people will alienate, not communicate. Pick up the phone and talk! It may take longer, but the long-term benefits of relationship building—and showing respect– are inestimable.

3. Think as carefully about a high stakes technology communication as you would about a high stakes presentation or letter. Choose your content and format, know the receiver’s formality expectations and preferences, and edit as if your career depended on it. In fact, it may.

Technology is a given. It is an absolute necessity for our fast paced, competitive businesses and lives. But when it becomes a barrier to our inter-relationships, when bad manners become a habit, when we become addicted to instant and constant communication, we have squandered all of technology’s benefits.

Try going Cold Turkey over a weekend. Some companies have recently instituted “No Email Fridays”—forcing their employees to pick up the phone, walk down the hallway, take someone to lunch. If this very concept causes your heart to palpitate and you just broke out in a full-body sweat, it may be time to re-evaluate your addiction to technology.

A recent AP wire story described a phenomenon called “ringxiety” or fauxcellarm” which occurs when Blackberry and cell phone addicts report feeling vibrations when there are none or feeling the sensation of wearing a cell phone when they are not. “If your hipbone is connected to your Blackberry or your thighbone is connected to your cell phone, the phantom vibrations you are feeling may be coming from your head bone.”

Jake Ward, former press secretary of Sen. Olympia Snowe, “claims to ‘pre-feel’ a new message or call. I’ll feel it, look at it. It’s not vibrating. Then it starts vibrating. I am at one with my Blackberry.”

Some of us are “at one” with our cell phone or our “Ding. You’ve got mail” signal…..perhaps the word “addict” is not too strong?

1. Don’t mistakenly press “Reply to all”—This action could be very embarrassing to you and to “all.”

4. For high-stakes emails, print out the email, and read aloud to catch any tonal “errors.”

5. Get rid of cute fonts and stationery—remember “presence”

6.  If there are 3 emails or text messages (email, response, response to the  response) pick up the phone or use your feet to walk over to the next cubicle.

7. Use “urgent” with great discretion—have your “urgent” be respected.

8. When sending attachments, give the recipient the highlights of the attachment (s).

9. When texting a high-stakes message, indicate you will send a more comprehensive (less abrupt) message by email within the day or that you will call to discuss in more detail.

10. Acknowledge and accept that you may have grown lazy in your choice of  communication techniques and /or you may have become addicted….and that you will make changes.

In the last 3-5 years, I have witnessed an enormous backlash against the use of PowerPoint in presentations.  The PowerPoint Pendulum has swung from “Isn’t this neat?!” to “Oh, no, not another boring Power Point!”

I use the phrase “Death by PowerPoint” to describe that comatose suspension between life and death while you wait for a Power Point presentation to conclude (“Stop! Stop! Please stop!).

Some companies have even gone so far as to ban all PowerPoint presentations, telling their managers to “Just tell me your recommendations and get on with it.”

The reasons for this Power Point backlash are many, but one in particular stands out: people hate being read to and nearly every presenter does just that. They throw the entire “script” up on the screen and monotonously read every single line, every single word to their audience, who are sitting in the dark….secretly checking email messages on their Blackberries.

Speakers inflict this sadistic suffering upon their audience for 4 main reasons:
1. They are petrified of public speaking and use Power Point as a security blanket
2. They don’t know any better
3. That’s the way it’s done at their company; no one knows any better
4. It’s easy and it’s safe.

It takes hard work, time, discipline, courage, and an understanding of just what engages an audience to produce an interesting, unique, and creative PowerPoint presentation.

Lee Gomes, business writer at the Wall Street Journal, says that “While PowerPoint has served as the metronome for countless crisp presentations, it has also allowed an endless expanse of dimwit ideas to be dressed up with graphical respectability.” Yale graphics guru, Edward Tufte, scathingly asserts that PowerPoint “elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch.”

Robert Gaskins, one of the two creators of the PowerPoint concept (the other, Dennis Austin) believes Tufte’s criticisms are spot on. They have “no patience with cubicle warriors who, in the guise of doing actual work, spend endless hours fiddling with fonts!  ” They like telling the joke that the best way to paralyze an opposition army is to ship it PowerPoint and thereby contaminate its decision making.

A New Yorker magazine included a cartoon showing a job interview in hell: “I need someone well versed in the art of torture,” the interviewer says. “Do you know PowerPoint?”

So my point has been made: PowerPoint presentations are mind numbing, soul deadening, spirit sapping exercises in staying awake. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post writes that this energy draining essence of PowerPoint was captured perfectly in a spoof of the Gettysburg Address by computer whiz Peter Norvig of Google.

It featured Abe Lincoln fumbling with his computer: “Just a second while I get this connection to work. Do I press this button here? Function-F7?” He collapses his speech into six slides, complete with bar chart depicting four score and seven years. (See sidebar for a sample PowerPoint slide from the Gettysburg address) But it doesn’t have to be this way!

I believe the day will come when an audience collectively thinks: “Oh, Boy, a PowerPoint presentation!” Incredulous? Let me explain. Here are Three PowerPoint Rules to help make your PowerPoint presentations
invigorating and refreshing.

Rule #1—Remember first and foremost that readers are not the same as listeners. The brain uses differing parts to process the written word vs. the spoken word. Speeches and Power Points are meant for listeners, NOT readers. So prepare a feast for your listeners’ eyes and ears. Think of the audience as consumers. Use color—with consideration of your audience—unique design, pictures instead of data and bullet points, and “sell” your ideas to your consumers.

Stand with the screen to your left, so the audience can scan your material from left to right, the way this culture is taught to read. Keep your feet pointed toward your audience, so your face, with its voice and expressions, can reveal your passion and commitment to these ideas. Be an expressive proponent of your material, not a deadly reader of lengthy sentences meant for English Comp 101.

Rule #2—Do not make yourself part of your audience. You are the actor, the director of the play, the set designer, and the choreographer. Symphony conductors do not sit behind the symphony. Neither should you turn off the lights—nappy time—sit at the back of the room with your computer, and send out a disembodied voice that drones ”Next……” over and over and over…… Take your position up front as the “owner” of this message, engage your audience with your entire being, and make the PowerPoint part of your “presentation presence.”

Rule #3—Audiences don’t need or want everything you’ve got. (No one is as interested
in your wedding pictures as you are.) So the presenter should develop 3 different documents:

Personal notes, to be seen only by the speaker and used as a reminder of the topics and key points.
Illustrative slides, which illustrate the major points and help motivate the listener and sell the message.
Handouts or leave-behinds, where the speaker puts the references, data, the appendices to the talk. Some may actually study these; some may glance at them; many will toss them. But they are there, revealing the background work that went into your engaging presentation.

So is it PowerPoint that’s bad?

No. Bad speakers are bad. Bad Power Points just make them worse. Obviously, then, there are two fixes:

1) Become a better speaker

2) Quit taking the easy way out with Power Points.

Next time, surprise your audience with an energetic, engaging presentation, which incorporates visually appealing PowerPoint slides. Think of your PowerPoint “show” as theatre. Most PowerPoint “shows” would close on opening night. Craft your set, stage the lighting, use dramatic focus, create a narrative flow (an impressive seamlessness), and end BIG.

In summary, you are everything from costume designer and tech crew to janitor. This is a reality all presenters must acknowledge, accept, and prepare for. After all, PowerPoint is the messenger, not the message. So don’t kill the messenger.

Mary E. Rauch is a communication strategist, presentation consultant, and public speaker. She lives in San Antonio and can be reached through her web site.
www.maryrauch.com