A few weeks ago, handheld-related disorders from another perspective was placed front and center when Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management at the Rutgers-Camden School of Business, talked about research that indicated companies could be liable for employees who become addicted to the always-on connectivity enabled by devices like the BlackBerry.

"If people work longer hours for personal enrichment, they assume the risk," according to Porter. "But if an employer manipulates an individual's propensity toward 'workaholism' or technology addiction for the employer's benefit, the legal perspective shifts. When professional advancement, or even survival, seems to depend on 24/7 connectivity, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between choice and manipulation."

"Everything that has good potential also has a dark side," Porter said to the Washington Times, "and we may not have set up boundaries for what is acceptable. We're seeing now with the BlackBerry what we saw with the cell phone and the ability to have it with you all the time. Just because you can be in touch doesn't mean you have to be."

Currently under review to be published, the study was co-authored with Rutgers-Camden assistant professor David Vance and University of Northampton professor of management and business research Nada Kakabadse.

Korn/Ferry International, an executive recruitment firm, found at about the same time Rutgers-Camden study was revealed that 4 out of 5 executives stay connected to work through mobile devices.

A third or respondents said they found PDAs, cell phones, handhelds and the like addictive, although 77 percent of the 2,300 executives surveyed in 75 countries said that mobility enhanced the balance between life and work rather than the other way around, contrary to Porter’s findings.