48 hours

I have a friend who to my knowledge has not gone an hour in my presence without receiving a cell phone call, during the past six months.
I have a friend who got pretty excited earlier this evening because he can now use our office wireless network to surf the net in full color using his telephone -- during meetings.
I myself cannot recall the last time I went 24 hours without checking my email. I'm serious -- neither illness, nor vacation days, nor dark of midnight can keep me from my appointed rounds.
And if I have to go more than 48 hours without receiving email communication from one of my close pals, I start to worry. Was it something I texted? Did I misunderstand her last IM? Did I inadvertantly refer to him as "sugar-britches" in my last office email?

How much communication is "enough?" Can I ever be satisfied?

I click the button: Check Email.
"You have no new messages." Shit! Again!
Sometimes my spouse gets really irritated, when he returns to the livingroom from wherever and discovers me AWOL -- sitting in my sewing room in front of the laptop. He hates email. HATES it. To my knowledge he has never read my blog. (Good thing.) The first time I sent him a text message, he couldn't figure out how to open it. The second time, he called me to say DON'T CALL ME I'M AT A CONFERENCE. "Shut off your ringer if you're worried about it," I said. "I figured you'd be switched off, I just wanted to leave you the list of stuff to get at Target." HOW DO I SHUT OFF THE RINGER? He asks.
Isn't that charming?

Fortunately I am not as enamoured of my cell phone as I am the computer. Unfortunately, all this focus on email in my relationships leaves me feeling oddly neglected. I bet I get more electronic emoticons, nudges, exclamation points and the like in one week than hugs in a whole month. That's pathetic! I'm actually very huggable! But the people I love, most of 'em, would probably describe me as "articulate."

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!