I spent a few minutes today setting up my first Blackberry… this after writing several articles about the way that the device is being abused by working professionals around the world.
It’s barely been a day, but I am coming to understand its addictive nature, and why people seem so engrossed by them, especially to those who are non-users.
#1: the screen and keyboards are very, very small compared to the usual freedom I have using a laptop with one or two screens and keyboards. It feels as if I’m threading a needle every time I pick it up, and my bifocals are finally getting the workout they deserve as I quint, furrow my brow and tune everything out in order to hit small key, teensy radio buttons with a slippery feeling trackball.
#2: as a practitioner of the Zero Inbox, push email drives me crazy. To the new user, this is crazy. My device, a not-so-new Curve 8320, does not allow me to turn off email. I must either disable every communication app off (the browser, email and even the phone) or keep them all on. This is awfully distracting, as it’s very hard to work with a single email while others are pouring in at the same time. Isn’t there an app for that?
All in all, I appreciate the convenience of mobile email, but so far it’s not a game-changer in productivity terms. Maybe I need to find the games that have fast become the most popular items used… but where are they?
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I don’t know of an app for turning off push emails but to my knowledge, you can turn off the notifications so your phone doesn’t beep and blink at you with every new e-mail. I have a BlackBerry Pearl and under profiles I have the option to set my alert and led notification to none. My e-mail alert (in every profile) is set to quiet with only the led blinking.
Hope that helps, and don’t forget to take advantage of excellent resource sites like Crackberry.com. They make the transition easier.
Regards,
Tracy
Hooray for you! I am still without one. Why? I have seen how it has made so many
people seem like ‘social misfits’. Too many people seem to forget their manners when
they become BB owners. Is it a contagious disease? I guess I will own one one day so I am taking vaccines to boost my immune system in the meanwhile.
Georgia,
You’re right! It is a disease. No vaccine will help (lol).
What will help is a conscious decision to not become infected. Strategies like the one I shared about turning off notifications are very effective.
Managing people’s expectations is also effective. My BB is for personal (not business) use and it helps to let my contacts know that it is not a new part of my body and that I will not respond in an instant to texts and BBMs. I have a saying: “When I signed with Bell, nowhere in my contract said that I had to answer the phone every time it rings.”
When your BB is part of your job, it is more difficult to avoid infection but not impossible. I’d be interested in hearing comments on this from business users. Any out there?
Tracy