[just txt and calls mam]

I have to say that coming into blackberry has opened my eyes

I initially came in for one or two issues with my storm(well more than one or two) and was amazed to find people with a total dependency on what they hold in their hand..only this was an electrical device

The more and more I came in the more and more I understood the term crack addict and not in the usual..just for personal use terms

So many claim they need push email but I wonder how many actually do and I wonder how many when they get home put the thing down and turn it off

I wonder how many gently caress their partner as a sign of affection as they do their blackberry, I wonder if they look their children in the eye with a gleam that they do when they get a new blackberry..that loving caring look

I am a basic man I value people more than gadgets and whilst I am no technophobe I am no geek either and gadgets work for me when I want them too..then when I don't need them I turn them off.

I'm not a rocket scientist or top surgeon for a childrens ward I am just me and for a large part I do not need to have a life dictated to by gadgets nor do I have a need to be 24hr contactable

I wonder how many relationships have been ruined or given rough patches due to blackberry's and how many kids feel neglected because thier parent can't put the blackberry down whilst telling the kids to leave the x box alone as it's time for bed

I use the p.c. for what I need then turn it off. I've gone back to a non email phone and I am amazed at the real human time I have got back.

so without jokes and without the need to be specific has any one found it hard to put the family before the blackberry and when you have how was it for you?

[PredatorGanaz]

Bottom line is that gadget is there to help us out and makes our lives better in terms of managing time and what not.

Its just like Nuclear Power it helps millions to light up their homes and heat them up. If people start miss use the Nuclear power should we just demolished all Nuclear power plants?

My two cents ...

[d1n_only]

This sounds like a serious addiction. Luckly I am not bad with any sort of habits and never usually let them take control. I can understand people become dependent on certain functionalities of the phone but I don't think it is hard to live without. I for one had to fix my phone do to a faulty upgrade of the OS. I didn't have the phone working for 2 days! To some this may seem an eternity but surprisingly I found it quite simple.

I wonder how long others have gone without their blackberries for?

[PredatorGanaz]

Yup just ignore the urge I would say ,,, as we speak I am downgrading the OS as well hhahahah latest 5.0 have so many limitation and bugs to begin with ..

[bumblesbounce]

No. I do not value my Bold more than the people around me...the folks who use it while driving do!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[BergerKing]

Being as I'm gone from home for extended periods, sometimes, this handy device actually brings me closer to family.

From the phone time, to the messages, to the pictures we share, the BlackBerry has made my family and me closer, not farther apart, especially now that my wife comes to play with us in my favorite forum now.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[iamtim]

This very much ties into an iPhone vs. BlackBerry "thing" I've been going through for the last month or so, swapping back and forth to test out features and functions.

No need to go into details, but related to this thread I found that the iPhone's "there's an app for that" mentality influenced me to get app after app and spend more time on the iPhone than was probably healthy.

When I switched to the BlackBerry I tried to re-create the "there's an app for that" approach that the iPhone had and, with the Facebook and Twitterberry applications, continued to spend more time on the BlackBerry than was probably healthy.

I've since decided to remove all the apps and just use my phone (whether it's an iPhone or a BlackBerry) to deal with the reasons I got it in the first place: voice, text, e-mail, and pictures on-the-go. If I'm in a situation where I need "an app for that," I can use my desktop or my laptop. It's still my life-line (I no longer have a home phone, by choice) and I won't go anywhere without it (especially considering my job requires me to have one for e-mail), but I don't need to confine my life to a little device tethered to my hip.

[alleycat0124]

...has any one found it hard to put the family before the blackberry...?

Absolutely not.

Even before my Crackberry addiction I kept in touch with friends and family via email.
My Blackberry only improves the lines of communication.
Bottom line, it is a tool which performs exceedingly well if used and maintained properly.

[Username00089]

No way I put a silly electronic device before my family and friends. That's just a ridiculous concept really. Bottom line.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Motorcycle Mama]

This is about the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. And that's saying alot.

[lulugirl896]

On the contrary, I feel like my Blackberry helps connect me and my family. Most of my family still live in Africa- while my husband, son and I are here. Its the mobile connection that has helped them all feel as much a part of our life as if we all lived on the same continent. My son is 19 months, and he already knows the ringtone for when grandma calls! The get to see pictures everyday, and we get to see what they are up to and share it. I would never be able to spend so much time in front of my pc screen- but grabbing my Blackberry for us all to check out what the rest of the family is doing right now is a dream come true.

[just txt and calls mam]

okay, try this and see how you fare

on Friday, when you go home turn off the p.c. take off your watch, turn off your phone

then on Monday put them all back on again then review what you did differently without the gadgets you can't do without and how your interaction with your loved ones/familly was also different

what have you got to lose ?

[alleycat0124]

I already know the answer to that.
They will all ask why I wasn't answering my phone all weekend.

[kaylasdad]

My BB keeps me in touch with my friends and family without it there would be long stretches without communication. I recently bought my wife a BB and probably when my daughter is old enough for a phone she will get a BB as well.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[just txt and calls mam]

Okay I see that

but doesn't enforce the direction that we are becoming a less and less direct face to face/contact society and substituting it with gadget contact?

[Osh]

Absolutely not.

Even before my Crackberry addiction I kept in touch with friends and family via email.
My Blackberry only improves the lines of communication.
Bottom line, it is a tool which performs exceedingly well if used and maintained properly.

Here - here; my better-half has a BlackBerry too; we used to text each other all the time but now, instead, we mail each other - it doesnt replace calling each other its just an additional way for us to connect.

I have give my two eldest sons BlackBerries too, as there's another element to it - in the UK someone recently calculated how much a Mb of SMS/text cost and it was something like �716 and that it was cheaper to get a photo back to earth from the Hubble Telescope that to send a Mb of text data. As such its cheaper for them to email using BlackBerry than it is to text each other using conventional SMS.

Take that another step further - my two boys are just taking their GCSE's (high schol exams) and both have used their BlackBerries for planning their revision timetable....not only did it help them to plan but it was also a good lesson for when they eventually leave University and start in the working world...

BlackBerry is a fantstic tool - but people should always be in charge of the tools they use, not the other way around...

Osh

[alleycat0124]

Okay I see that

but doesn't enforce the direction that we are becoming a less and less direct face to face/contact society and substituting it with gadget contact?

I don't see it that way at all.
Without my BB or email, during the work week, I wouldn't be able to communicate with my friends and family at all. So during the week the effect on communication is a very obvious and tangible increase.
On the weekends I use it to keep in touch with friends and family not living in my area who would otherwise either send me an email, or leave a phone message which they could only hope I would get and answer promptly.
So again, the effect of having a BB on communication is an increase.

Yes face-to-face contact has decreased overall, but that has less to do with "gadgets" than it has to do with a myriad of socio-economic factors; however it may get this thread booted to "off-topic" if I start getting into that here.

So back, on topic. No. I don't agree.

[cnorton]

I value people and animals then BlackBerrys. The order of that depends on the person, the animal, and the BlackBerry.

[bumblesbounce]

I still value and interact with the people at - my home, the post office, the gym, the library, my mailbox, my local city offices, at my work, at the market, at my local coffee shop, at my favorite restaraunt, at my car repair shop and all the other places I met with people 40 years ago. My Bold allows me to interact and value people I never would have had the chance to meet 40 years ago. If you don't interact or value people as much today it's a 'you' thing; not a 'BBerry' thing...

[mrsjackd]

i love my BB, i am addicted but i also know my child,friends and life donot need it to function. my BB makes my life easy and i wouldnt go as far as to say i would turn it off but if a message alert goes off im not running to check it either. when its batman vs joker playtime with my son i make sure he knows hes what im focusing on and not my awesome phone.

[sparkliai]

As with anything, there's always gonna be people that go to the extreme with anything. I'm not gonna turn my devices off to prove a point. My kids stay with their grandparents every summer. My sister stays 10 hours away. I work 10-18 hours a day. I can get pics of my kids and send them to my work email anytime. I can call my sis or send her email anytime I feel like. Why be a slave to your laptop?

[lulugirl896]

but doesn't enforce the direction that we are becoming a less and less direct face to face/contact society and substituting it with gadget contact?

I think you are confusing enhancement with substitution.

[just txt and calls mam]

I think you are confusing enhancement with substitution.

I think some, not myself do, you only have to look in the addict section

It is a usefull tool, I just see many people who would think their life had ended if a little black electronic box was lost or damaged

It is as one or two have said a balanance that most achieve but some do not

[amazinglygraceless]

This has to be the most absurd concept discussed here or on
any other Forum.

It is a phone. Anyone who put a material possession above human
contact is a shallow, self absorbed, seriously deluded person in
need of professional help.

As to the "I'm addicted" thing I suspect 99.54574932% of the
people who say that only do so because all the "cool kids" do.

[Unicorn11B]

Okay I see that

but doesn't enforce the direction that we are becoming a less and less direct face to face/contact society and substituting it with gadget contact?

If you're wife or kids aren't right there how could you communicate with them otherwise? If the kids are at the park playing with thier friends? That real life stuff?

And how do you communicate so easily with friends and family that don't live next door? When your spouse is on a business trip to the other side of hte country? Or your friends and family that live in other areas, cities, states, nations? Not everyone stays within 2 miles of the house they were born in.

Do you really think that overpriced long distance calls, or slow written letters are better?