Are You a Blackberry Slave?

...me? Nope!

...because I refuse to have a "digital leash"...for me, telephones STILL work fine for voice communications; the days news will STILL be there on the evening news when I get home; and, if I need a message written, I STILL know how to use a pen or pencil.

...when I was "issued" a pager, I put it in my desk...sometime later the secretary asked me if I was "using it"...to which I replied "...does this thing need a battery?" She caught the hint...I was asked to return it that afternoon.

...end of story. What? is that YOUR pager buzzing?

If your will power is weak, the BB enslaves you. I enslave my BB, it does what I tell it to do, fetch, carry, etc

Amen... Technology should work for "man", not "man" for technology!

Technology, a wonderful thing........ Can you become a slave to it? Oh yes! One company I worked for took a dim view if you did not answer your emails within 2 hours and then they wanted to know what took you so long. I notice many people get upset and very agitated if they DON'T have regular emails or texts, it's almost addictive, they must have a fix, or they get very paranoid thinking that they are unloved. Add all that together and the youth of today using their computers, internet connected phones and blackberry's find they have no social skills, and they can't add or subtract without he aid of one of the aforementioned appliances because the appliances ALL have calculators. Go to the pub and play darts...... learn mental maths. Now the iphone can add & subtract by voice command, before long we won't have to think (the next generation of office workers are already programmed not too!) Can you imagine what the call centers of the UK will be like. But the world is getting smaller (I wouldn't want to paint it) time zones mean nothing, and communication is everything. That's why I'm up at 3am (UK time) talking to Australia & Canada (and writing this in-between). Why? cos my bloody iphone went off and customers and co-workers world wide want my attention. Oh the pit falls of being popular/instantly contactable....... I blame the Postal Service, Satellite TV & Bill Gates. Where is my bed?

Those that want love can join twitter or facebook, which are mainly social, that said, they have their uses.

I use a BB and it is linked to my e-mail. I check it from time to time on the road and deal with urgen items and leave the others, some I ignore until I get home. same with e-mail on the desk. It is like a phone call you can choose to answer or ignore to go to voicemail. I tend to deal with matters by BB or e-mail if I can, as it usually has less time wasting over head than playing phone tag, because a phone is a one-ar-a-time tool.

e-mail is parallel, I can see 50 messages and deal with the one I want, then the next etc. It is great freedom.

I do not understand those people who speak of BB or e-mail addiction? it is as if they are not in command. Possibly since I am a top boss, I have a different point of view to those people who live in fear of my call...

I choose to not carry a Blackberry, and am glad that I have the choice. I do keep a laptop with me, and the obligatory cellular telephone. I think Email is a wonderful thing as it maintains proof of communication. Can it be overdone? Yes, it sure can be.

But, I am also "old school" and believe sincerely in doing business face-to-face, especially when addressing higher-ups. I do this whenever possible and save the cellular telephone and Email for those times when the distance is great, or just a simple reply is needed.

I do think that while our communication technology is a wonderful thing so far, it is no substitute for good business social skills, as well as social skills in general. I still hand-write a lot of notes, as that is the only way to maintain the quality of my handwriting these days.

But my time away from the office is my time away. A co-worker is certainly welcome to give me a quick jingle if he has a question while I am away, and I think that is certainly reasonable. I would not like to get into a long conversation where I have to make decisions over the telephone.

And nowadays we have the "Twitter" addiction where some must tell others every detail of their day. I'm glad that some people have time to type, send, read, and reply to these "tweets". Not me - I am not into foolishness. I also have large fingers, and that makes it difficult to type on these tiny devices. Oh well - at least that's my excuse!

But the original post alludes to a behaviour that some possess. Some feel they must remain in contact at all times, lest they be percieved as slackers or weaklings. We have all been in a restaurant where not far from us, a guy is sitting at the table with a very pretty young woman, and he is on his cellular telephone or Blackberry non-stop during the entire meal. One would think that he should have enough repect for his date to avoid this behaviour.

But again, such social skills are not the ones I learned, and yes, the times do change. And I feel that over time, some people do develop a communication addiction that greatly interferes with the private life. As with any other potential addiction, it remains a matter of self-discipline and control.

Best Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

well, these things have an on-off switch, so if I want isolation, I get it.

I chose to be reachable, most of the time.

I have know people who cling to phone and message protocols from times gone by.

I know one guy who takes this to an extreme and plays dominance games, and will not call someone on an important matter if he fears to be viewed as the supplicant. It has cost him dearly at times, but he clings to it,

I work for a large corporate group. I was the last in the group to get a cell phone. The chairman was just ahead of me. I forget to charge it often and leave it home. I chose the most basic version that just about makes and receives calls.

There have been several different posts and discussions about the topic of technology. Is it a slave or slave-master?

They all come down to one thing: individual choice. Many chose not to stay connected 24/7. Some of us choses to. I would imagine the largest group of us are somewhere in between.

We could have technical discussion about whether or not BB is superior to Palm or to the iPhone or to Windows Mobile, but ultimately, the technology is another matter of individual choice. Does the device or application do what you want it to do?

I personally enjoy the ability to stay connected when I need to and the ability to turn the darned thing off when I don't want to be connected.

Power to the people!

What gets me is those doctor's offices with signs to turn off your cellphone.

All cell phones are tested for interference with medical devices, and all medical devices are shielded against RF interference. So this is just petty control antics on the part of the doctors.

Correct -- which is why there are so many more cell phones in use by doctors and nurses in hospitals. In fact, there is a small industry developing around writing applications for health care and medicos.

Still, from an etiquette aspect, I am glad those signs are there! It is very hard for me to concentrate on a six-month old magazine without having to listen to half of a conversation right next to me!

Hah, I am immune to those people, I speak quietly and do not deal in confidential matters in a public space. After all, if two people chat in the office, what right do I have to prevent their discourse? If I only hear half of it, it is just background. Long ago I learned to concentrate to exclude that stuff.

Nope. These things do have an "off" button.

Maxim: when the phone rings, it's someone else's agenda....

I bet the person who started this topic did it from an iphone/blackberry/pda!!! ..where is that off switch??

hmm, being the boss, I dance to few agendas, but I work collegially with a number of people on many projects and have a number of friends, so when the phone rings it is usually a friend's call or some collegial contact to deal with a project with me or for me.

I get few, if any harassment calls but a few random sales calls do crop up, and I then use the end call button. I prefer to respond to a call than the bother of calling voicemail to retrieve a voice message after the fact.

I think the key question here is- "Has family life in general been regulated by current trends to a place of secondary importance? And what has filled that niche?"

Yes i agree that Blackberrys (Blackberries?) have facilitatied connection to work and internet, but if family life was important to the user it is a simple time management issue to put the BB away when not absolutely necessary.

I suppose my point is I don't believe blackberrys have taken away from family life, I think societal expectations have done so. If the wife wants the nice car and the nice house, and the kids want an x-box, ps3 and wii, and everyone wants a membership at the country club and the breadwinner (wife-or-husband-or-partner) can sacrifice family-time to make more money to provide that he or she typically does. The BB may have eliminated late hours at the office or bringing home a briefcase, but it has brought work in.

A much less socially acceptable, yet timeless, example is. "Has access to alcoholic beverages in most dining establishments as well as grocery stores relegated family life to a place of secondary importance?"

What is more important this day in age? Expectations of life standards? Personal gratification? A quick climb up the ladder to success? Or like my father are you willing to sacrifice these to have a close supportive relationship with your children/wife? I can see arguments for all these but personally I know which I choose for long term happiness.

-T

P.S.- I have the spare beer or six on a regular basis, didn't mean to sound like a prohibitionist there.

Just when you think you've seen it all, someone trips along and surprises you. Today I travelled to london on the train. Sat down opposite someone who immediately started to use his BB. We stopped at Reading and lo and behold the next passenger to sit opposite me, had not one but TWO Blackberry's, and he is using BOTH of them at the same time. How you may ask as we men are not know for our genetically challenged ability to "Multi-task", but he did it. So who is the slave here? Whereas I, was watching a film on my "iPhone"

When you work in a good team like I do I don't think we need BB. There is about 4 of us running a complex computer application/system. All 4 of us have communications and one of us will pick up the email. We know each other and know when someone is less available. I for example mostly take the off-hours as my computer sits in my living room. Of course I am not responding to stuff that can be done during a normal work day. So basically what I am trying to say is use this new technology to its best as it will push you further in live. But make sure to not take the brunt of the work, use it but do it together. Talk together keep the politics out where ever you can. We run our sytem without BB but we do use technology like for example Skype. As it takes away any possible miscommunication made thru text. It's beautiful and we have great family time left over to feel good about.

Team work guys and dolls, than you don't have to worrie if you did not look at your email for more than 2 hours like a previous blogger indicated.