A Wall Street journal article on Blackberry Usage states that there’s several families who’s lives are interuppted by Blackberry usage. I’m sure this would also apply to other SmartPhones, such as the Trio that feature both email and text messaging, as well as games.
The story states that parents are often off messaging and typing and the kids can’t get their attention. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t bad parents before the smartphone. Still, the money quote:
Emma Colonna wishes her parents would behave, at least when they're out in public. The ninth-grade student in Port Washington, N.Y., says she has caught her parents typing emails on their Treos during her eighth-grade awards ceremony, at dinner and in darkened movie theaters. "During my dance recital, I'm 99% sure they were emailing except while I was on stage," she says. "I think that's kind of rude."
Also today was a shot from the other side.
Parents are very concerned about their kids text messaging habits. These little wunderkinden are texting up a storm, sometimes sending 100 messages a day, and carrying on multiple conversations. Sadly, I’m much more like their parents, barely capable of packing out a message in 30 minutes on my Motorola phone.
Personally, I’m not a fan of text messaging, not because it’s annoying, but that it’s so dammed difficult. One of the few reasons that I would like to have the same Treo phone that Chris has, as it has a tiny, but full keyboard. I never learned to type, officially, but at least the QWERTY layout is familiar.
I actually could use a new phone. My little Motorola is starting to die in calls (well, it actually always did that, but now it’s the battery, not the Cingular network, which loves to drop my calls around the 8 minute mark, consistently). The phone has also reboots when you try to use the car charger, or when you close the phone too fast.
Of course, the phone isn’t two years old yet, so I wouldn’t get a special rate yet. Still, I want one with a better camera than my blurry phone, you know, for LJ pics.
One problem Cingular has, at least in our area, is that most of the phones are junk. I’d like one with the little flip-out keyboard, where text-messaging would be pleasant, even with my fat fingers trying to hit 3-4 keys on each punch. I think Verizon has this, but not Cingular. They would like me to buy an expensive smartphone.
Smartphones are big and bulky. I don’t need something like that when I don’t even talk on the phone that much. I don’t even come close to using my minutes each month. Thought it would be nice to get email, why should I get all the spam I get each day on my phone? The one thing I’d like about a smart phone is to have something where I can play Tetris type games like Chris does, often when we’re at a restaurant.
Of course, I’m trying to keep my phone going long enough to see if Apple really does release an iPhone. If it’s decent, I’d likely buy it. Of course, until it’s actually out on shelves, it’s vaporware.
So, back to the stories above. Both of these stories are just another lamentation that we no longer interact with people. It’s poppycock, of course, now we just interact with people in different ways, and in much greater distances. When I was a kid, I wouldn’t even think that I would be friends with someone in the next county, let alone the next state. Now it’s easy. Perhaps easier than actually talking to our neighbor.
Communications technology is a bit of a crutch. It’s easier to hide behind a text message, or lie in an IM. You certainly don’t have to show your real feelings over the phone. Shyness for many people seems to vanish when their IM or use a chat client. There’s so many different ways of communication now, whether broadcasting, podcasting and blogging to several, to the targeted text messages.
Somehow, the idea of getting to know our neighbors or even those we’re near too becomes so much more difficult. It’s interesting how there were visions of the future where people would nest and never go out, just watching TV in their homes. That vision is somewhat true, except that the media is becoming more mobile. Now we’re still immersed in our own world, but that world now can go with us with our iPods and Zunes and car televisions and wireless internet at Starbucks.
Suddenly, distance is not an object when contacting someone, so our relationships have changed – quickly. Now there’s always somewhere to go when you find out that the local crowd has gone to pot, or you find that you just can’t talk to someone in person. This, is why we need the EHarmonies and Match.coms of the world, because the actual meeting, meeting someone blindly, in person is too scary to do. A few years ago, one would hope that they would bump into someone and fall in love, but now we can screen them online before ever meeting. It seems easier, with less risk.
Of course, grabbing the Blackberry allows you to create the interaction on your terms, on your time, a revolution begun with voicemail. We seem to be getting further and further away from actually having to interact with people when it’s inconvenient for us.
Still, maybe I should just buy the Tetris game for my phone and tune everyone out.
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