Oh, and I've given up driving and never learned texting, so I have no dog in this fight other than as a potential victim - so get off the road if you're that distracted! I want to live to keep getting squirts.

My friend, John Lynch, credits another chemical (not serotonin, either) with the well-being religious believers feel as compared to others, such as himself, who are absolutely straight-jacketed by the scientific method which I find to be an extremely useful but imperfect tool.

Ah, McLuhan, again! This is definitely one of my major "squirts" in a week.

Wow, Matt Richtel says he finds the physiological aspect extremely fascinating, and I agree. That we are getting a "dopamine squirt" when we check for e-mails and text messages--this comment just about bowled me over. Why? It points towards the physiology of acts of communication, and the suggestion is that acts of "communication" are not just about the message, about information--and may not even primarily be about these--but have a biochemical basis (and here I think not only of McLuhan's "the medium is the message," but also his quip "the medium is the massage"). One then starts to wonder about a lot of things, since our world more and more is saturated with devices of communication (which then equal what--dopamine generators?) What are some of the important questions that we can now begin asking? I'm sure there's research that's been done, and is being done, and it'd be great to get some good recommendations on books. I imagine there's also something like a dopamine factor in the basic act of clicking around on the internet.

Hi: I find it obnoxious that people can say that their drivers doesn't suffer when they drive. I notice every time I play with my phone, or talk, that my driving is not as good, and find myself drifting out of lane much more than if I was paying attention at close to 100%. Even playing ith the radio or inserting in a new CD causes my distraction to occur. I cant see how anyone can say they dont notice thier driving getting worse. They must have very poor perception of the awareness of driving.

-- Chex