Josh Anstey’s Blog

I read an article today on the Ninemsn Money Website called, ‘Are you addicted to your Blackberry?’

The article definitely criticises society’s addiction to what has been termed a ‘CrackBerry’. It lists the many ways that the BlackBerry addiction has ‘interfered’ and changed our lives.

The BlackBerry is just one of the many pieces of technology that we are now fortunate enough to have that enhance our ‘Connected’ lives. They have allowed us to take that step forward in being always connected.

Now don’t get me wrong, I agree that if it gets to the stage that you are interrupting social arrangements, meals and discussions to respond to your email, or any of the other definitions of why you would be addicted in the article, then you have taken it a bit far.

But look at the benefits. Productivity has increased allowing business to be conducted away from the office, people can find information on the go, search for directions when they are lost, and are freer if anything to go out, because they don’t have to sit at their computer all day waiting for that one email that requires an immediate response.

I think rather than criticizing the huge amount of people that are using BlackBerry’s and the amount of time spent on them, we should be encouraging people to embrace the technology. All too often we hear of people complain that Generation Y and young children spend too much time sitting in front of the computer. Enabling mobile devices with internet connection removes this desire to sit in front of the computer all day long. It encourages people to leave the screen and head outside, go for a walk and socialise with others.

The article is very interesting, and has lots of information for both points of view, but I think we all know that the technology is here to stay and will continue to improve.

So if you are addicted to your BlackBerry, make sure you try control it in some ways and set your self some rules or boundaries such as:
• Don’t respond to emails during conversations with people or at meals unless it is necessary or urgent
• Draw a line between what is family & friends time and what is BlackBerry time
• Every once and a while, leave it at home when you go out.

Remember, if you didn’t have it people would have to wait for you to get home to your computer to respond to an email, so just because you have a BlackBerry, doesn’t mean you have to get to that email straight away.

I am 100% in favour of BlackBerry’s and think they are a really great invention. But like anything else, remember to use them in moderation.

If you have a BlackBerry, let us know your thoughts on this. It would be great to hear your opinion on whether or not you are addicted to your BlackBerry.

Related post: iPhone or BlackBerry?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Business, Entrepreneur, Generation Y, Ideas, Networking, Trends, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.