They were everywhere. I saw them in banks, in cars, walking down the street, in meetings, at Starbucks, in elevators, at lunch, in bars, at conferences and at work. It was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers: First, I noticed a few of them acting curiously. Before I knew it, the world had been overrun with shells of former people thumbing furiously at their BlackBerrys.
Although PR requires you to stay up to date, I never felt at a disadvantage. I did my job; I worked hard and excelled; but at the end of the day, I was able to disengage from work and put my personal life in a non-contiguous compartment. Initially, I was put off by these mindless creatures, this cultish Blackberrati (As you can see from today’s feature story in The New York Times, I’m not the only one: http://bit.ly/n8oTP). They were slaves to their electronic extensions, unable to extricate themselves from the ever expanding web of digital communication. I felt sorry for them. Then, I got one.
As part of my employment package at Feintuch Communications, I was supplied with a new BlackBerry (I opted for the Bold). In a matter of days I went from mild curiosity to rabid support, likely to sacrifice non-immediate family members if it were necessary to save my 9000, my preciousss.
This weekend, I was swallowed up by a vortex of texting, BlackBerry Messenger and App World. I lost track of time, like a Native American on a Peyote-induced vision quest, only to emerge on Sunday, realizing that I was texting, BBMing, Gchatting and emailing a childhood friend of mine all at the same time in order to work out the logistics of meeting up for lunch. When I realized what I was doing, I closed all my applications and, with the unsteady hand of withdrawal, called my friend up. We settled on a place in ten seconds tops.
My body is snatched. I already feel it. I am one of them. I am part of the Blackberrati. But while I already see the enormous potential this device has to support my professional development, I will do my best to remember that sometimes you need to pick up the phone to get the job done.
Great article! My girlfriend was stolen by a Blackberry, and she followed exactly the same course. You're doing valuable work exposing the clear and present danger these devices pose to our society.
ReplyDeleteIt was only a matter of time before you were Assimilated. Resistance is futile ;-)
ReplyDeleteI tried something that relates to this...
ReplyDeleteSee if you can go 30 days and 30 nights without sending one text. Work e-mails are cool of course, but no texting on the cell phone. The plan goes: every time someone texted, you call them right back and actually talk.
It sounds great, but it's impossible! I lasted MAYBE 2 days, and without thinking of what I was doing, I hit send and it was all over.
I never realized how attached I was to my BlackBerry until this afternoon, when I was emailing, BBM-ing and texting while running errands this afternoon. It did not leave my hands/eyes for over an hour.
ReplyDeleteAhh, Pablo, you finally came to the dark side! Welcome. I, too, suffer from the same addiction. I'm just waiting for a giant system crash to bring us all back to our senses. Remember when life was so simple?
ReplyDeleteYou know Pablo . . . Blackberry devices can be so addictive that owners may need to be weaned off them with rehabilitative treatment similar to that given to drug users. Hopefully we won't lose you to this new gateway drug.
ReplyDeleteHere's a common misconception about addicts: They want to be weaned off their addictions.
ReplyDeletesometimes it is easier to make the call to a friend and figure things out quickly; but other times - you dont want to talk.. you just want to sit peacefully; bbm'ing allows you to do both. and then once you get over sitting quietly, the addiction of - i can multi-task-like-a-mutha-fucka kicks in and you're feeling like you just won a game of pac man cause you just sent your client a confirmed interview email, wrote a text, responded to two, added 2 PIN contacts, and just emailed your boss you were staying home sick - when really you're in the city using google maps to find the closest liquor store to the exact block your on - so you can go spend the day at the park. cause hey, if anyone needs you, you're available to respond via text, email or bbm. welcome pabs, welcome.
ReplyDeletesometimes it is easier to make the call to a friend and figure things out quickly. but other times, you dont want to talk; you just want to sit peacefully. bbm'ing allows you to do both.
ReplyDeleteThen once you get over the sitting quietly phase, the addiction of, "i-can-multi-task-like-a-mutha-fucka" kicks in and you're feeling like you just won a game of pac man cause you just sent your client a confirmed interview email, wrote a text, responded to two, added 3 PIN contacts and just emailed your boss that you were staying home sick; when really, you're in the city, using google maps to find the closest liquor store to the exact block youre on - so you can go spend the day at hte park.
cause hey, if anyone needs you, you're available to respond via text, email or bbm.
welcome pabs, welcome.
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ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to blackberry! I used to be one of those people who couldn't grasp the whole phenom that is crackberry and then, just like you, I got one! And am now addicted!
ReplyDeletewww.stinasoverdose.blogspot.com