Here you are, reading a blog. You're staying up to date with the latest news on fitness, health, food and nutrition. Maybe you also read other blogs to check up on current events, or celebrity gossip, or sports -- but does that mean you're addicted?

You might have blogitis, which, at least according to one public relations speaker, is a real disease.

Richard Weiner, a public relations consultant in Miami Beach, is giving a presentation on the topic at an upcoming conference in Boston. His opinion is that gossip is essential to business. It fuels the stock market, can change an election, or break a new product. In the workplace it's a beneficial tool for bonding amongst employees.

And, because the main source of gossip is blogs, people have become addicted to them.

Granted, Weiner isn't a doctor, and by the sounds of it, his position is that blogitis -- if it exists -- is a positive addition. While I understand Weiner's argument, I'm not sure I agree. I was already skeptical about email addiction and Internet addiction, so I think blog addiction seems equally as unlikely.

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Normally, this would seem fairly straightforward: get caught visiting an adult chat room while at work, and you can expect to get fired. One man, however, instead of accepting his fate, is suing IBM, his former employer, for $5 million. What gives?

James Pacenza is claiming to be an Internet addict, and thus, because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, that he should have been protected from termination. According to Pacenza, "I felt I needed the interactive engagement of chat talk to divert my attention from my thoughts of Vietnam and death."

IBM has responded by noting that Pacenza had been warned about similar behavior in the past, and that -- even in the event that he is addicted to the Internet -- sexual behavior disorders are specifically excluded from the ADA.

But is Internet Addiction even a real disorder? What do you think?

As a side note: if you not only answered "yes" to that question, but also believe that you're suffering from this particular affliction, you might be interested in the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, which -- fortunately for you -- is online.

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