One cloud-based experience,” is the future for those of us addicted to a life in the touch screen.

Our “clouds” float around all our favorite digital devices, uniting even the most bitter of BlackBerries to their coveted i-Enemies.

Our “clouds” entertain us, inform us, direct us and insulate us – in a comfy, cushiony world of WiFi wonder.

Oh, the places you’ll go! When your TV, your TiVo, GPS and Palm Trio will follow!

Never has the concept of a “virtual reality” been, well, this nauseatingly realistic.

An Asustek chairmen described the “digital home” at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, according a Monday New York Times story. “Every wall becomes a display,” he said. “The mirror should become a screen. You already watch the mirror.”

OK. It’s gone too far. Wake up. Get out from underneath your digital rock and take a look around.

No one can shave and watch football in the same mirror.

When we say we are “multitasking,” we are actually shifting focus between different activities in rapid succession, according to a study by a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. As those activities become more complex, “the brain has a severe bottleneck,” the professor said in an October 2008 New York Times article.

The fact is, we are less efficient and less focused when we force our brains to “multitask.”

And in my opinion, driving is one of those tasks that require – literally – undivided attention.

Take, for example, my mother – a prime example of why the National Safety Council’s recommendation to ban cell phones is right-on. Her digital “cloud” is more like an aura, emanating from her in rings and dings at every step. She’s text-savvy and iEverything-happy, with a touch-screen computer next on her list.

But I can’t imagine a more frightening place than the passenger seat of her car.

She checks her e-mail on the phone. Types in addresses on the navigator. Calls every member of the family on the Bluetooth. Sends a few text messages. Toggles with the iPod hook-up to the radio. Checks her e-mail again. Gets mad at the navigator for telling her the wrong directions. Makes another phone call … it’s a vicious cycle.

I ask her why she must save these tasks specifically for the car, and she tells me, this is the time she cuts out for these things. It’s the only time she has to do them.

Is it possible that we now consider driving a passive activity?

We are forced to sit still and the passing of cars is rather monotonous after a while.

I suppose a quick look at my e-mail at this stop light would do no harm?

I invite you to unplug yourselves for a bit, and consider strapping your digital “cloud” to the backseat when you’re behind the wheel.

- Hayley Peterson is the associate news editor for The Red & Black.