Mal Fletcher comments

In a world of instant messaging via Twitter, Facebook and a plethora of other networking platforms, it gets easier to look to technology to provide our emotional diet.

Some people become discouraged or even depressed if they haven't received at least 10 e-mails, five Facebook messages and three tweets before nine in the morning.

It is this growing emotional aspect of our internet interaction which is leading to what Stanford University calls "internet addiction".

In April, 2007, a technical glitch in one region of the US denied service to five million Blackberry users. At the time, psychologists noted a sudden increase in the number of people complaining of symptoms including feelings of isolation and alienation - classic symptoms of drug withdrawal.

Some people even reported "phantom vibrations", when their Blackberries were out of order. I think the message here is not "you've got mail", but "you have a problem"!

We need to find ways of sustaining ourselves emotionally, which are not reliant on the use of technology.

3. Project Ahead

Much of what we enter about ourselves will stay online permanently - either because we forget to remove it (the more we add, the harder it is to remember it all), or because the "digital echo" is impossible to totally expunge.

Everything we enter online is stored somewhere on a hard drive -- and even terribly damaged drives can be restored these days. Criminologists are able to track digital impressions in e-mails, tweets and other material long since deleted.

Project ahead five or 10 years. Are you entering information and material today that you wouldn't want your life partner, children or even grandchildren to see later? Is there something you wouldn't want a prospective employer to discover with a quick Google search?

Remember, the very definition of privacy is changing. Privacy once meant that something was accessible only to those directly involved. Today, at best, it means that something is accessible to a limited number of people - and the limits are growing fuzzier every day.

4. Keep Track

Be aware of what you've entered on social networking and file sharing sites and remove anything you feel is no longer helpful to others or serving your best interests.

In other words, do an internet audit every now and then. It sounds laborious, but even a little time spent checking your various internet presences, may save you embarrassment and possible victimisation by criminal elements.