The Blackberry scourge

For those of you out there who feel that an electronic PDA or Blackberry is the shiznit, you will have a difficult time convincing me.

Six months ago I left a job of five years that required me to carry a Blackberry.  At first I thought the Blackberry was a pretty cool gadget — I could surf the net (slowly and poorly), read and write email, keep a calendar, reminders, contacts (all integrated with MS Outlook), use it as a cell phone, etc.  At first it was great.  But what started as a great productivity tool eventually turned into an electronic collar.  Since part of my job function was IT support, and support issues could occur at any time, I carried it with me all of the time.  So when an email came in I felt compelled to read it for fear it was something important.  Every time I had a spare moment I would check it to see if there was anything new, and if there was something I would feel compelled to answer then and there for fear of making someone wait too long for an answer.  The stress and inconvenience of constant connectivity and being constantly accessible eventually became too much and I came to resent its presence in my life a great deal.  I count it ultimately as part of the reason for my leaving.  The day I took it off my hip was a day of great relief and satisfaction. I could come down off of permanent high alert now and allow myself to be more often in the moment with my family and friends.

For all of the state of the art gosh-gee-wizzer features of a Blackberry or PDA, those devices will ruin your state of mind and make you miserable.  The very possibility that you could be called upon at any minute of any day will creep slowly into your consciousness and utimately manifest as a full-time obsession, putting everyone and everything important in your life on hold every time it beckons.  If you don’t have one don’t get one.  If you already have one, my advice is to put it down permanently.