Could you give up your 'crackberry' for a day, or are you, like many users, addicted to e-mail on the move? BRIAN O'CONNELLreports
HI, MY NAME is Brian and I am a Blackberry user. It started almost two years ago, when an older, far cooler, friend suggested I try her Blackberry. "Take a loan of mine for a few hours," she said. "Everybody is trying it." What can I say? I'm weak.
Soon, I wanted to experience it for myself. I quickly abandoned my old mobile phones, which had stood me in good stead. I wanted in with a new crowd.
I'll never forget turning on my first model (the 810, known on the street as Pearl), and the surge of adrenalin as I synchronised my e-mail inbox, chose my ring tune and got up close and personal with my new tracker ball. After that initial high came the intense delight of sending, and then receiving, my first e-mail. There was a new rush of blood to my thumbs and the realisation I could be anywhere I liked and still keep in touch. Waltzing down the jam aisle in Lidl, I was able to pitch an idea for a story, check my bank balance or keep tabs on the latest Brad and Angelina saga. It literally changed my life.
And so, when my editor called this week and suggested I go without my Blackberry for 24 hours, I'd gladly have swapped the assignment for a long weekend in Kabul. "Wouldn't you like an arm instead?" I enquired, and foresaw having to shut down Brian O'Connell Inc for the period I would be without my trusty technical sidekick.
I was able to sympathise with president-elect Barack Obama, a likely Blackberry addict, or "Crackberry", as us dependents have become known. Obama was told last week he might have to give up his Blackberry for security reasons once he enters the White House. During the campaign trail, his thumbs were almost surgically attached to his hand-held device; directly following his election win, he replied to a friend's congratulatory e-mail from his Blackberry with the line, "How about that?"
The beauty of the Blackberry, as I have found out, is that you don't have to be tied to the office to continue important e-mail communications. So, when I turned my device off this week, it was like I had suddenly and uncomfortably been catapulted back into the mists of time, when landlines and fax machines ruled the universe. It was the office environment, Jim, but not as I know it.
As the morning progressed, my right hand kept instinctively reaching for my device. I could almost hear it, whispering to me to turn it on, flashing its big, bright, display screen at me. Having locked my car keys into the boot of my car in Waterford the previous evening, I spent most of the morning away from my desk, making my communication blackout all the more edgy.
I distracted myself by calling Melissa Mazmanian, a graduate PhD student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who has been researching Blackberry users. Melissa herself doesn't own a Blackberry, but says the devices have potential to ruin relationships and professional careers.
"Think of it this way: if you ask someone what is your work/life balance, it is a difficult question to answer," she says, "If you ask them, when do you turn off your Blackberry, then it can be more apparent."
I phoned two Blackberry users for some sympathy and advice. Ursula Earley, Head Of Legal Service at Bórd Gais, says the important thing is to ensure you keep work and personal communication devices separate.
"I think the device is a mixture of a blessing and a curse," she says. "It works for me by keeping my phone and Blackberry separate, so that if I'm in town on a Saturday I don't have my Blackberry with me. Otherwise, I'd only be checking it and find myself back in work mode, which means you are never really relaxed. I only check it once at weekends."
Fine Gael Deputy Leo Varadkar says roughly half of all TDs would appear to have a Blackberry. "I use it as a phone also, so rarely turn it off," he admits. "I was in Mongolia for three weeks volunteering during the summer and it didn't work there. I panicked for about two days, but after that I enjoyed the pleasure of not being able to have instant contact."
It was good to talk, and at least I know I'm not alone. As my day progressed I became more relaxed about my Blackberry blackout, and didn't feel the need to check my e-mail inbox every two or three minutes. I took a stroll in a nearby park, and noticed how different birdsong sounded without the constant jingling of text and e-mail messages. So, this is nature, I thought.
I'd like to be able to say the forced withdrawal taught me a lesson about the need to keep check of work/life balance. It didn't. As soon as the 24 hours were up, I leapt out of bed and powered up my device, gently caressing it's curvy sides and trailing my fingertips over it's compact keypad. My life was complete, once again.