This morning I interviewed longtime speech coach Joyce Newman for an article on media training. We got to shooting the breeze, and she confessed to being a Blackberry fiend, not shutting the thing down until 10:00 p.m.
"You know how you used to reach for your cigarettes in the morning?" she said. "Now we reach for the Blackberry."
She and I agreed: In terms of satisfaction, a net loss.
But why? I don’t have one but work with compulsive BlackBerry users who are obsessive to the point of rude. Honestly, I don’t get it.
Whether via Blackberry or e-mail, maniacal checkers are hoping to get what they need. For example:
Marching orders. Praise. Abuse. Love. Confirmation that we exist (and that others know it). Something–anything–that we’re not getting where we are right now.
My question comes back to, was there not life before the BlackBerry/e-mail/mobiles, and did not people exist as happily as people can exist? It’s weird to me when the tool in hand is more important than the people in front of one.