How I got over my “CrackBerry” addiction….
It has been quite some time since I have posted and I apologize to my reader(s) out there who have wondered did I give up or just had nothing of significance to say. I can assure you that people that know me will vouch that I am never void of things to say, whether it is significant or not is another story; having time to sit down to write was an issue and I am still to this day paying the price of having my wrestling coach as my typing instructor (guess what I did during class) but I digress which I do through all of my posts. Maybe I should spend more time with Dragon’s Naturally Speaking the speech recognition software which is amazingly accurate to get more posts out and only type to correct my diction….hmmm
Anyway, a lot has happened this past month and switching from a BlackBerry to the iPhone has been…. how should I say it, a life changing event. I will admit I was a heavy BlackBerry user spending a lot of time responding to everyone and anyone more text than was really needed. As I mentioned in a previous post feeling phantom vibrations on my hip when my BlackBerry was not there and here is the one I am not happy revealing; DUIBB…Driving under the influence of BlackBerry where there really should be a law against. I wonder how many accidents have occurred due to drivers reading and responding to messages. Hey, here’s a thought….maybe RIM and Dragon’s Naturally Speaking should work on a joint solution….you read it here first!
So, you are wondering what does the iPhone have to do with all of this? Well, I had always admitted that I was not going to join the craze of having a iPhone, I had an iPod and really did not see a need for an iPhone but circumstances lead me to acquire one and that started my path of recovery. I will tell you I was actually shaking when I took the iPhone out the box and went through the procedure of activating it online and mulled over initiating the final step that would retire my Curve and port my service to the iPhone. I immediately regretted it and spent the next 3 hours totally frustrated trying to adjust to the iPhone onscreen keypad, it was awful and I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to toss the iPhone across the room! I am gripping just writing about it and I knew I would not like the change. I even took the phone back the next day to the Apple Store only to be talked into going back the next day to buy it again…really…I have the receipts to prove it. Well, after spending some time with it I realized that there were times when I did need to respond to an e-mail but I did not have to write a novel when one or two sentences would do. I had to devote some time to a few of my frequent message receivers that I was not angry at them or going through some tough times because my messages were short and not my usual upbeat expressive manner, heck…keying in a smiley face was a challenge for me on the new keyboard!
So days….weeks went by and I started feeling better, not so stressed and obsessed with mobile communication, things were not that urgent and I was able to focus better on the tasks at hand instead of wearing out my thumbs. I could run on the treadmill without nearly killing myself when trying to respond, RUIBB…Running under the influence of BlackBerry, you get the idea right?
I am over my addiction, but occasionally I take out my BlackBerry Curve and hold it but the urge to activate it is not there as it was before and I am loving the iPhone more and more every day.
ALTHOUGH….I have a new challenge thinking everything is touch screen driven; I have tried to change the channel on the TV, and navigate on my laptop and other tasks I am embarrassed to admit by touching the screen…on to my next addiction?
I just want everyone to know that there is a cure out there and if you are willing to try, you too may discover that that life without a BlackBerry is okay and usage in moderation will allow for a more meaning life….how profound.
Michael–
My wife works for Apple, so of course she has an iPhone. It;s a great email and informational interface, but not a great phone, and it has little problems: her Mac has twice erased her contacts, a nasty little bug that apparently is not unique to her. Still: a device that can be used as a mobile CRM interface AND can settle bar bets? C’mon – how can you beat that?