Barry's Blog

Alice Kahn once remarked, "For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three." Such is the case in the highfalutin world of technology in which we live. Yet, recent developments in the legal battle involving BlackBerry handhelds is forcing millions of people to deal with a rather unsettling question: What would life be like without a BlackBerry? BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., based in Waterloo, Ontario, will appear in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia on February 24th for the court to consider a shutdown of U.S. sales and service of the popular wireless email device, often dubbed "crackberries" because of the legion of devoted users. While the likelihood of a disruption in Blackberry service is remote, the Supreme Court's earlier decision last week not to hear an appeal triggered concerns that BlackBerrys could go dark.

Roughly four million Americans have a BlackBerry device, and RIM controls about 50% of the market for wireless email devices. "A stoppage of BlackBerry would cause major havoc," says Bob Egan, director of emerging technology at the research firm Tower Group. "CEO's use them, doctors use them, Wall Street guys use them." Yet for many BlackBerry  users, the prospect of a blackout is liberating. Patrick Blanchfield, who works for a New York-based organization, says it would prevent his boss from sending him emails "at all hours of the night!"

The BlackBerry started out seven years ago as a device for high-ranking corporate types, but, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, " it has quickly become a verb, a source of marital discord, a safety hazard for those who cross busy streets while responding to email, a status symbol ('will your company give you one?'), and even a pick-up tool." Michael Romero, a 27-year old systems administrator in Phoenix, says his friends email him on his BlackBerry to point out "cute girls" at nightclubs. The BlackBerry has also been the culprit for many an interrupted vacation, as well as interruptions at the dinner hour. Debra Lucas, an office manager in Ashburn, Virginia, says her husband is constantly checking the device, and she has banned it from the bedroom and restaurants. Still, she says she sometimes finds him hiding in the foyer, huddled up with the device. "It's like there's another woman - but really just the BlackBerry," she says. Larry Engel, a partner at White & Case in San Francisco, says his BlackBerry actually alleviates marital tension by allowing him to secretly check his email and get work done during vacations with his wife. "BlackBerrys are very easy to conceal in your palm," he says.

Some individual users are trying to wean themselves off the devices in preparation for a possible shutdown. Elana Centor, a free-lance writer, rarely lets her BlackBerry 7250 out of her sight, that is, until recently, when she decided to try to kick the habit in light of the lawsuit. "I'm preparing myself," Ms. Centor laments, describing how she suspended her routine of checking her email every 15 minutes and even went to the gym without the BlackBerry.

I, too, use a "smartphone" (not a BlackBerry), and it is without doubt a tremendous tool for brief communications (Could we live without them? How did people get work done before BlackBerrys?) And yet, this beneficial "time-saving" device may be robbing us of something. It  serves to "blur" the distinction between work & home, labor and leisure. What if there was a service shutdown with BlackBerrys and other email devices? How would it change the way we communicate? Would it make our communication more civil? It also makes me wonder what we used to do when we didn't have such great little technological devices to fill up our "think time," our time of leisure, when we could occasionally daydream, or even think great thoughts.

Kierkegaard wrote, "If I could prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the word of God were proclaimed in the modern world, no one would hear it; there is too much noise. Therefore create silence."

Just thinking, before I check my email...

For FinishingWell,

 Barry Morrow