I belong to the blackberry generation. My eyes get droopy reading messages on it right before I fall asleep, and it is the first think I reach for in the morning. I have programmed my Blackberry alarm to Depeche Mode's lamenting "Time Refusing to Stretch", wishing I could just sleep a little longer. I refuse to wake up to a standard blackberry buzz.
In the morning, I stretch my arm to my BB and find the messages that arrived while I was dreaming, originating from the USA. I smile, through sleepy eyes, at the sight of nephews growing in a snowy metropolis. I then rush to my blog wesbite. I am always curious to discover the extra pictures my sister has selected and especially to discover her edits. She has complete freedom to edit me as she wills. The blog is a sisterly collaboration and while I choose the topic and the twist, she controls the lingo and the writing flow. My obsessive checking has brought the total amount of clicks to my pinktaxiblogger site up to an impressive amount!
However, as with all new technology, the BB brings about a new set of etiquette. My ignorance of BB etiquette actually got me in trouble once. As a new adherent, I carried it with me at all times and would place it by my side at dinner parties. Then a wise friend pointed that to me and I should never use my blackberry with company, and the truth was that I never really did. In fact, now I make a point to protect my personal time by forgetting the BB when I exercise, teach or read to my kids, or even when I am enjoying a book myself (Franzen anyone?). I also always keep it on silent when I nap.
I now use the BB for a most unusual task, that goes beyond keeping in touch with friends and family. I use it to draft all my blogs! As I type this very post on the small gadget, I can hear my son swim his laps. Sometimes, I receive an email, or a blackberry message or an sms and seldom a phone call. Speaking becomes obsolete with all the other means of communication.
If you go to my picture folder on my BB, you will find the inevitable children's photos, some rare photos of my significant other, many of my nephews and many photos taken by my brother, a true photographer. There will always be a random one of Roger Federrer, Madonna, Obama, a Henry Moore, Reza Aramesh's photography or a picture of Zurich airport. I am a blogger and those photos remain in my files.
A couple of years ago, before I used to have an actual blog, I kept a mailing list of close friends and family, and would share with them similar thoughts and ideas as I do on this very blog, but via text message or email. Eventually, one of my uncles responded to one of these mailings with a specific request to: "please remove [him]off [my] list". I have learnt my lesson, and didn't take it personally. The benefit of a blog is that I don't feel I am harrassing people by blocking up their mailbox. They have the choice to check or not to read.
He is amongst the lucky few who don't know about my blog, even though I have mentioned him many times in my meandering postings.
The blogger had a Yahoo account until we convinced her that Gmail is the latest to adopt.She also used a simple Nokia,until a family member complained about her lack of communication,and advised her to goo get a BlackBery!That was the advice that opened the dam and a flood of daily postings started coming,keeping us anxiously tuned to the latest in Art,Literature and Nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Nadimeh and I'm a crackberryaholic.
ReplyDeleteCrackberry's as I like to refer to them are the bane of my existence. It's like there is a third person in the room with you. Especially if your BB is tied to your job, which mine and everyone who works nowadays is. This impossible gadget has ensured that we never have a restful weekend and everytime that red light is blinking we automatically get up to see who, what, when where and why.
Unfortunately, many of my friends use it as their main form of communication and I often miss the sound of their voice when they are recounting something funny, a voice inflection or just simply an appreciative chuckle.
BB just adds more stress to an already stressful life and for the life of me I don't understand why people that don't HAVE to have one do. I wouldn't. The day that I no longer have to have it as part of my job, is the day that I will be crackberry free!