Blank the blink
I’ve been joking lately that cellphones are the new cigarettes, and the more I see people in the elevator, on the corner, at the restaurants, heads bent over their phones, feeding their addiction to information and communication, the more I think it’s true. When there’s a moment to spend waiting for something – an elevator, a bus, a coffee – instead of lighting up, we pull out our phones. And as much as I despise the tendency, I find myself doing exactly the same, far more often than I’d like.
My BlackBerry was lifted from my bag recently, and I didn’t replace it until last week, just using my old faithful Motorola while waiting for insurance money to come through. It really was a relief to be rid of the constant tug at my attention from that blinking red light on my phone. It was great to only be able to check email when it was convenient for me, instead of constantly being alerted to the fact that yet another one had arrived.
So it was with some reluctance that I’ve replaced my BlackBerry, but this time with a small adjustment: I’ve stuck a little patch of gaffer tape over the blinker.
Smokers have to stick on patches to curb their addiction too, and I’m hoping by blanking the blink, I’ll soon chuck the urge to check, and I’ll manage to stand and wait quietly for the coffee/bus/elevator, undistracted. Or, at least, I’ll stand there, itching to reach for my phone, and my patch will remind me that my urge to be busy is exhausting, antisocial, and bad for my health, and instead, I’ll breathe in some fresh air, and just savour a moment of not being busy.
julochka
i’d say, just play angry birds (or chuzzle) instead of checking mail. way more fun. π
kerriJ4
The Irony of this comment is that I’m posting it while waiting for someone to pitch up to sign for a delivery I just made… Should I be smelling those roses instead? My bitter sweet blackberry – my best friend, and my worst enemy.
Great post – Thank you
Janne
Great post. Maybe I shouldn’t be too upset that I don’t have an iPhone yet, then. I suspect I might hold a world record or something in sticking to an old mobile phone. It’s been with me for 5 years now.
Claire
Good luck! Hope the patch works! I went for almost 2 years without a mobile phone when I moved back to oz! Before that my phone was glued to me and I even took it to bed at night and was known to check mail even when a beep in the night would wake me. It was a big adjustment but probably after a year I didn’t miss it anymore… I would like to say this is the happy ending but I got an i-phone last Christmas and the addiction is worse than ever!!! (*o*)/
helene magnusson
This is so true and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one trying to reduce my consumption!
cleo
About 6 months I went into my profiles and deactivated all notification sounds and my flashing LED .. Sigh .. Life is waaaay more relaxed now!
arounna
funny – I just switched to being notified of emails because I kept checking to see if I had any new emails – I will be working away till – bing bing
good luck with it xx
Athol
Oh so true. Our brains need time to relax and reflect. The modern habit of having a constant iPod sound track to your life is another serenity killer. Maybe if I let my brain relax a bit more often it would be able to have a little creative time too.
JP
Doing that now! Blackberry’s are great, but I find myself checking it and on Twitter for ages at night and first thing in the morning I’m on it again. It’s terrible π