Is net addiction a real and growing problem? The issue is whether the net is actually replacing or enhancing relationships. A recent study of families with and without internet access found that those with the net became more depressed and interacted with each other less because they had developed "virtual" friends who won't be much help when your car breaks down!

Any tell-tale signs that you're becoming addicted? Certainly if it's affecting work or your relationship with your partner. Theoretically what should then happen is the control of your access to the net be imposed from outside. That should also involve increasing your awareness of how much you actually use the net as the more aware you are of any addiction the more able you are to stop it.

Any favourite gadgets? I recently acquired a Packard BellChrom@laptop, which is great because it's got a built-in DVD and you can appear as if you're working hard while you're watching Apocalypse Now. I have a Psion 5mx organiser and a tri-band Ericsson T28 mobile with an infrared modem so I can send emails on the go. Emailing a photo of my wife from India via the Psion and the mobile took ages and cost a fortune but being a real anorak I loved the idea of doing it!

Are you excited by any of the emerging 3G technologies? I think Bluetooth is going to be exciting although I haven't seen anything using it yet. At home we've had ADSL put in but installing it was a nightmare and it was very unreliable for the first few weeks. There is something wrong with the way that telecoms companies handle their customer care. These new technologies require you to be incredibly educated whereas you would have thought they would be making them user-friendlier.

Have we become too reliant on technology? You only realise how reliant you've become when you don't have it. It's interesting that the more complex a society becomes, the easier it is to destabilise it. When you have ADSL, you as the customer are the only person aware of all the different systems interacting. Talking with the people who provide ADSL you find out that they have limited knowledge of the technology they're dealing with.

Any favourite websites? I tend to use specialised sites through the University of London and the Institute of Psychiatry. A lot of journals seem to publish online before the print edition is available and a lot of academics seem unaware of this. Unfortunately, high-quality information on the web is expensive. I do visit www.theguardian.com, www.ft.com, www.bmj.com and the Maudsley site a lot.

Visit: www.btinternet.com/~rajendra