I purchased my BlackBerry for two reasons:
1) My Treo kept failing and did a lousy job of making the mobile office work for me.
2) The lovely Shmata Queen raved on and on about her Pearl. (I didn't want the Pearl 'cuz I don't do Pink and my hands are far too big for it.
At the time it seemed like a very smart purchase. A fine tool that would make the mobile office a reality for me as well as help improve my productivity. For a long while I was convinced that it did exactly what I wanted it to do.
But I have since begun to reconsider. I have it set up so that it serves up six different email addresses. Four of those are business related and two are not. Three of the business addresses are very active. Two of the personal addresses are relatively active as well.
As a point of reference the two personal addresses are tied into this joint.
If you are playing the home version of this game you should wind up with five email addresses that are quite active resulting in a consistent series of beeps and whistles. Not to mention the text messages that seem to come through in drips and drabs.
The end result is that I find myself staring at the phone on a regular basis trying to determine if the clarion call of email is something that requires immediate attention. The beeps and whistles have turned into the Siren's song for me and I find it hard not to respond to it.
Net effect: I am questioning how much more effective I am because of this unit not to mention its addictive nature. Affect leads to effect and the hamster keeps spinning that wheel.
I tend to believe that it has made me more productive. A simple analysis shows that I am getting more done. But the real benefit is that it truly makes me mobile and for that I am thankful. I dislike being chained to a desk more than I mind the email chatter.
But I do have to acknowledge that it is an electronic leash and that it does make it harder to distinguish between work and play time and that is an issue worth considering.
6 comments:
Do you have the option of set "work" ours and "non-work" hours, so you can just turn the darn thing off?
I have no blackberry, nor cell-phone.
I am untethered.
If people do not know how to contact me, there is a good reason for that.
Formerly I had a beeper. The snap broke, and I have no clue where it is. At two beeps a month, it wasn't worth it. I no longer subscribe.
I recommend this condition. Yes, you will feel happier.
Luddism for the modern era - no bells, no whistles, no tweets, no twits.
This does not surprise me coming from a man who has what--six blogs? Seven?
SHEESH!
Holy Cow, as we 'Sconnie Jews like to say.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might like the posts I have under the label "Jewess." Or then again, you might not...
I turned off all the alerts but the phone. The blinking little red light is the siren call for me. When I can't stand it any longer, I just turn the phone over so I can't it...
"can't SEE it"...
Tzipporah,
Unfortunately I don't have that option. International clients and opps keep me going at all hours.
BOTH,
One day I will be that guy, but not yet. With any luck sooner than later.
Ann,
Some of those are blogs that I am co-author on so they aren't necessarily things I work on all the time.
I'll take a look at those posts.
FP,
Sometimes I just turn it off and hide it. Can't turn off the notifications 'cuz business requires access. But it does feel good to put it down.
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