Ok, maybe the title is abit harsh, but there is no doubt that Rim’s Mobile email device BlackBerry does contribute to workers losing touch with their friends and family. There has been many studies that proves that the Blackberry completely removes down time, however it also means that workers has longer working hours.
An article about changing personal time to productivity time with the Blackberry pretty much outlines what I’m saying here. An average work is at work 38hours in a week, which equates to 8 hours for 5 days of a week. Thats alot of time spent at work right there, however its fine as long as they get the weekend off as well as Thursday nights to shop (Night shopping in Sydney, Australia).
Now throw the Blackberry into the equation and you’ll find that instead of working 38hours, like an average worker should, you’ll be working around the clock, regardless of what time it is and what day it is. To hell with Thursday night shopping, you’re probably too busy answering emails half of the time you’re out. Your spouse would definitely not appreciate it, though they would need to live with it so that you could get that promotion / raise you’ve been working so hard for.
However, over time, you will feel that you communicate less and less with your family and friends, and that even if you do have a conversation, it would be about work. You start feeling stressed when you don’t have your Blackberry around, or you get a panic attack if you get no email for 30mins. Email withdrawal symptoms starts to kick in and you’re left with nothing but a family you seem to not care about anymore.
Work, work, work, thats all you think about during the weekend and its not even about the money anymore, you are just doing it so can you feel like you’re worth something, anything, in this world. Your children stops talking to you since they’re constantly online and the only way to get them to dinner is to send them an Email via your Blackberry. Heck, thats the only way to talk to them now, they followed your footsteps and decided to get completely wired up so why not get them a Blackberry as well?
I could go on for ages with hypothetical scenarios, though I am pretty sure that some of you reading this already feels this way. My advice is to turn you Blackberry off when you’re at home, talk to your spouse and children, have a proper family dinner with no interruptions (and if those annoying telemarketer’s call, tell them to go away).
Your children are only young for a limited period of time, talk and play with them more, or else they will drift away sooner than you think.
By the way, I love Blackberrys, they are bloody awesome.