One thing I’ve consistently resisted is getting a Blackberry or other such device for managing email when I’m on the road or generally out and about.
The major part of my self-justification is that I really do not wish to be like the many others I see at train stations, airports, coffee shops and other places who are enslaved to their email no matter where they are.
You know the picture. Someone peering at a small device with their fingers and thumbs flying about as they scroll their messages and tap out their texts.
What’s even worse is when you’re in a group of people and one or more of them is doing their email on their Blackberry in the middle of a conversation. Rude, to say the least. Just as bad as when you’re talking to someone and their mobile phone rings, they just go ahead and answer it.
Email may well be an essential element in our daily business and personal lives, but I don’t plan to become addicted to a crackberry, er, Blackberry nor develop a ‘Blackberry thumb’ (I’ll more likely develop a ‘Nokia thumb’ because of rapid SMS texting).
Choosing when and where I use email - perhaps better expressed as when and where not to - is one of the few ways I can keep my sanity about it all.
