This piece of mine appears in today's Daily Telegraph:

There is a useful rule of thumb in life that has yet to let me down: almost anything suggested by a management academic is best consigned to the bin.

It's a good job the rule is so reliable, because otherwise I would have been admitted to the Priory Clinic long ago. Gayle Porter, a professor of management at Rutgers University business school in the US, says use of a BlackBerry can be as "damaging to the mental health of the worker" as "chemical or substance addictions".

Employees, she argues, will soon be able to sue their bosses for causing them to become dependent on their BlackBerry - a gadget nicknamed the "crackberry" because it is so addictive - by making them stay in touch with the office.

I have a rather straightforward view of technology: if it makes my life easier, I use it. That's why I'm typing this on a laptop keyboard, rather than scratching at parchment with a quill.

And that's how I see my BlackBerry. In the dark days before this miracle of technology - mobile phone, e-mail and internet all in one - was invented, I was indeed something of an addict. If I was in an office, I was a man possessed. I could barely walk past someone else's computer without asking them if I could quickly check my e-mail. Now I am calmness personified. I can go for a walk or indulge in a matinee, safe in the knowledge that should work beckon, I can respond immediately via my BlackBerry. I am always contactable. And all the more relaxed.

Rarely have I read a more wrong-headed sentence than Prof Porter's: "The fast and relentless pace of technology-enhanced work environments creates a source of stimulation that may become addictive." No! To have a Blackberry about one's person is to be tranquil, serene, unflustered. That, perhaps, is the difference between management academics and people who manage their work in the real world.

Far from being stressed by my BlackBerry, the problems start only when I don't have it on me. Last year I went away for three weeks with my then girlfriend. At the outset, she made clear her prime rule: my BlackBerry was to remain at home. By her reasoning, the point of a holiday is to relax, and since my BlackBerry was my main tool connecting me with work, it was inimical to that purpose.

This, of course, is the same fundamental mistake made by Prof Porter. When I am parted from my BlackBerry, I twitch. I fret. All I can think about is what I might be missing; what disaster I will discover when I am finally reunited with it. And that is how I react when I am without it for a few hours. For three weeks? That's what I call stress. So we compromised. I could bring it with me, but not turn it on.

Any of the 5.5 million BlackBerry users would know, of course, that having an unconnected BlackBerry would have been even more traumatic than not having one at all. So I cheated. First thing in the morning, I would sneak into the bathroom and press the "on" button. And every morning I was reassured. The result? A relaxed me, an unsuspecting girlfriend, a holiday success. I may be a BlackBerry addict, but it's a habit I've got under control.