I recently upgraded my $18 orange Samsung phone and entered the 21st Century a few days ago. For the past few years I’ve been rocking a BlackBerry look-a-like without any of the cool features—no internet, no MMS, no games, no music, etc. I often felt left out of smart phone activities when my friends would receive emails or facebook messages on their mobile devices. The concept was so foreign to me—my phone just made calls and occasionally worked well enough to send a text. So, once I was eligible for an upgrade, I jumped on the opportunity to find the smartest phone out there. The search proved to be rather difficult, however. I was plagued with the age-old question: iPhone or BlackBerry? I attempted to enlist the help of my friends, however they were all useless. There was a strong iPhone-BlackBerry divide and no one was switching over. The decision was difficult, but I ended up settling for a BlackBerry.
For the past few weeks, my BlackBerry has literally been my third hand. I can’t function without it. It’s always by my side, in its cute little orange case (in honor of Pumpkin, my old orange Samsung phone). I get such a thrill when I see the little red light go off in the upper right hand corner of the phone. “Im popular!!” is my immediate reaction. I excitedly check to see who is contacting me, and from where. There are so many ways to keep in touch. I have two email addresses—school, and personal— facebook, text messages and BBMs. It is absolutely wonderful. Or is it?
I have found over the past few days that the problem with my BlackBerry is that I feel so connected, yet so disconnected. Meaning, I can always been contacted via email, facebook, text, etc. and therefore I am always at my phone wondering who is going to contact me, or looking for updates on people’s lives. So when I am actually talking to someone in person, I am distracted and disconnected from the conversation. It is hard to focus on the present when I am being contacted from so many different directions. I have found that I can’t focus on the present. Even as I am writing this article I find my eyes wandering over to my left, to my blackberry, to the little red light on the upper right corner. I can’t help it—I want to feel connected. But the question is: at what expense?
What am I giving up in order to feel connected? Am I forcing myself to in fact be more disconnected? I know I am not the only one who falls victim to the disconnection of connection. Everyone hates that friend who sits with you at lunch and can’t look up at you or fully engage in conversation because they’re constantly checking their smart-phone. I know those people exist—I have tons of friends like that. And they’re SO annoying! Is it possible that I have become one of them too? I think that possibility has turned into reality. I have heard my friends make jokes about my newfound obsession with my phone, something that wasn’t necessarily true when I was still sporting Pumpkin. My friends complain that I am not paying attention to them, or I haven’t lifted my eyes during a conversation because I am enthralled by my new toy. When they say this to me, I am either not paying enough attention to the conversation to really register what is being said, or I brush it off and refuse to accept the idea that I could possibly be one of those horrid friends who is too consumed with their phone. Therefore, I can easily conclude that I am in fact one of those horrid friends. I have become a BlackBerry whore! The horror!
So how does one avoid the disconnection of too much connection? How do we strike a balance between real life and virtual life? Too many things are happening simultaneously, which is in part where the problem stems from. I know that I’m not the world’s best multitasker, so it’s highly possible that there are people out there who can handle this form of connection better than I can. Nevertheless, I think it is an important thing to be aware of. Next time you reach for your smart phone, take a second to think about what you’re sacrificing in order to stay connected through your mobile device. Is your friend speaking? Are you in class? Are you studying? What form of connection are you ignoring in order to attend to your smart phone?
Photo Courtesy:
http://www.peoplestylewatch.com/people/stylewatch/gallery/0,,20208129_20…