Chicago TV station busts carnival ride ops for texting on the job

Nope Gonch.. Since im always on the 'puter at home, I have been known to IM my wife on hers and I even had a web cam convo with her while she was in another room.

Thing I hate most with my cell since I get approx 200+ emails a day, is the 'phantom vibrate' where I feel like my phone is going off where it really isnt, and then micro seconds later it would.

I suspect you're experiencing a well established psychological phenomenon. It's been proven that people physically react to auditory stimuli -- phone calls, car horns, door bells, etc. -- microseconds before they become aware of (i.e., hear) the noise. The same thing happens to me every time my phone rings at work... it has a tendency to freak me out when my body jerks an instant before the phone apparently rings.

What you're describing sounds like something very similar, only with a tactile stimulus.

I think one of the most annoying aspects of always being connected is that so many people feel the need to immediately respond to every text message, cell phone ring, and IM that comes in. There's no priority given as far as importance or urgency, only that it's in front of them now.

As a result, deadlines at work are ignored in order to coordinate where the group is going to meet for happy hour. Or meals in restuarants (families or dates) are interrupted for some work-related chatter that could realistically be delayed until the next morning. Things only get more confusing when people receive another message before they've done anything about the first one.

My other unrelated pet peeve right now is how the heck would people manage if they didn't have power steering in their cars?

Reminds of this article I read a few years ago.

There have even been times when my phone isnt even clipped to my belt and I feel a vibration.. Those are the ones that really creep me out.