These devices can be fun, entertaining and useful, but you need to be cautious when using them. I'm not talking about the practical issues of not texting while you're driving, getting eye strain from staring at a computer screen for hours on end or developing carpal tunnel syndrome.

There is something more insidious at play here.

Have you ever tried to do something on a computer and it just plain wouldn't work? Or have you ever dialed a number on a cell phone and ended up calling someone in a different state? Then you try again a minute or two later and things work like a charm?

These are not mere coincidences. No, far from it.

Electronic devices of all kinds are being possessed -not by spyware programs from China, but by gremlins. Yes, gremlins. Whether you want to believe it or not, these small creatures have decided that the electronics we rely so heavily upon are their new playground.

A gremlin is not an elf, goblin or troll. They were first observed back in the 1920s when an officer in the Royal Air Force defined them as "an imaginary gnomelike creature who causes difficulties in aircraft."

But they are far from imaginary and have developed a craving to cause trouble and frustration for those of us who are stuck behind a computer for hours at a time.

As a Web designer, I spend a lot of hours at a computer. Between creating pages, checking pages, editing graphics and uploading files, the Web is more or less an organized chaos of files that have to be put in some kind of order to be useful. There are times I do things that I know are right. But guess what? It won't work!

You look at the code painstakingly line by line and see nothing wrong. Then you delete it, put the code back in the exact same way - and, it works! Gremlins.

A couple of weeks ago I received a call on my cell phone. It was a lady saying I had just called her. No, I had called her more than a week ago and had actually talked to her. She said her phone just beeped, indicating that a call had come from me. Nope, not me. Gremlins.

Have you ever tried to put a CD or DVD disk into a computer or DVD player and it keeps getting kicked out? You then wait a few minutes and try again and it works like a charm. You got it, gremlins.

And one last, but bizarre example. When we first moved into our house years ago we would hear talking in the middle of the night. It sounded like a child's toy. It actually said, "Don't forget the red shoes."

We heard it coming from inside the wall and originally thought it was a toy that somehow got built into the wall. It didn't stop until I had my computers hooked up and running. I am sure they were gremlins and that once the new and better electronic devices were running, they moved from the wall into my computer where they could cause much more havoc.

A couple of decades ago these creatures were content to stay in our cars and trucks and cause problems. Car wouldn't start; tires made a funny noise when turning right; heard a clicking noise when adjusting the radio. Those little fellows (and gals) had a heyday as people swore, screamed and kicked at their cars.

Gremlins are not dumb. With the advance of technology and the growing number of electronic devices, they have just relocated. Why? Because gremlins feed off of our frustrations!

They love it when we swear and can't understand why things don't work when there is no reason in the world for them not to be working correctly.

Is there anything you can do to get rid of gremlins? No. They outsmart us every single time. There are no computer programs that will eliminate a gremlin. You can't pour bleach or water into an electronic device and wash them away.

See, they are smart. They know we can't do that.

What do gremlins look like? They are very tiny creatures with big eyes and big ears. They are not quite like the creatures pictured in the movie "Gremlins," but they are close. Besides being smart, these creatures are shrewd and very resourceful. They can go months at a time without being seen or heard.

What do you do when the gremlins have taken over? What do most of us do? We shut off the computer, cell phone or video game and leave it off for a while. The gremlins will, of course, use that time to think how else they can torment you, but for a while you will have peace of mind.

Better yet, shut everything off and go for a walk in the fresh air and sunshine. Gremlins don't like sunshine and they won't follow you. (That's one of the reasons gremlins moved out from vehicles and into our electronic gadgets.)

So now you know. The next time your iPod, cell phone or computer seems to have a mind of its own, in a way, it really does. And, remember, never, ever, feed a gremlin after midnight.