Stoke City striker Dave Kitson suggested earlier this week that iPods are damaging the camaraderie in dressing rooms.
This instantly made me think of an article by the excellent Tim Vickery last season. He wrote about the impact of technology on the Brazil World Cup teams in recent years and how important it is that players maintain focus.
When I watch the build-up to TV games and see players getting off the bus, it always strikes me how isolated some look making their way to the dressing rooms with their headphones in.
Players may argue that it actually helps them focus, and that they speak to their team-mates enough in training, but I wonder about the impact of withdrawing to such an extent in the hours before a game.
Listening to music, watching a DVD or playing a video game hardly fosters team spirit in the build up to a big match.
But perhaps this isn't so surprising amid rumors of cliques in dressing rooms that are more multicultural than ever before. With so many different personalities and nationalities, and the obvious language barriers, the iPod may be preferable to making small talk with people you have little in common with.
Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin was a guest on one of the World Cup TV shows in the summer and the host was taken aback when he revealed that he only had the phone number of one teammate - Nicklas Bendtner.
Historically, there have always been players happy to keep themselves to themselves and it may be that there are now more of these than ever, with technology simply acting as an enabler.
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