I just had an experience that made me laugh out loud and think of Pavlov and his dogs.

In the early 1900s, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician became widely known for first describing the phenomena of how he was able to train his many dogs to drool on command with the simple ringing of a bell. He identified the basic laws for the establishment of what he called “conditional reflexes” — i.e., reflex responses, like salivation, that only occurred conditionally upon specific previous experiences of the animal.

I was enjoying a relaxing weekend chilling out with no agenda or commitments – my idea of a good time. My cell phone rang and caused an immediate “conditional reflex” where I tensed up and asked, “What now?” It occurred to me that this response, although not drooling, had been pretty consistent for many months when my phone rang. When you are in PR, it is a 7×24 job. For the record, I love my job and wouldn’t trade it for the world. In fact, I actually don’t mind being on call to the media or my clients on the weekend or at night.

I have owned a Treo for as many years as they have been out and have always set my ringtone to “Treo.” Like Pavlov and his dogs, the ringtone acted as a catalyst for a negative response in my world. It took me a bit of time to figure out that it wasn’t the incoming call that ignited the negative response, but the actual ringtone itself.

Unlike Pavlov’s dogs who didn’t have any options, I reset my ringtone to the soothing music of “Klavier.”  The disruptions are still constant, but the conditional reflex is gone. Thank God for technology. And, thank God for dogs…I have four.