[NYGriego74]

I found this on my local papers website





BY PATRICIA KITCHEN | [email protected]
September 18, 2008
Once upon a time, we brought teddy bears to bed as a way to feel more secure. Today, it's our BlackBerrys. That's according to a survey of 1,500 smart-phone users in which:

87 percent said they bring their smart phones into their bedrooms at night;

84 percent said they check them right before going to bed and/or on waking in the morning;

85 percent said they check in the middle of the night if they wake up;



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80 percent, remarkably, said they check before their first cup of coffee.

In a business environment in which clients on the other side of the globe are waking up and logging on just as we're going to bed, having a smart phone handy on the nightstand can make many people feel connected and more secure.

"It's about the fear of missing something important," said Samuel Nahmias, chief operations officer for Cedarhurst-based Studylogic Llc, the market research and business intelligence firm that conducted the research for Sheraton Hotels & Resorts.

The survey also asked respondents to tell what (or whom) they could live without if they had to: Forty-nine percent said their smart phone; 35 percent, their significant other; 16 percent, their pet. Nahmias, who is recently married, elevated his new wife over his smart phone. But as for choosing between that device and their golden retriever, "that would be a tough one" because being without a BlackBerry could mean loss of a client, he said.

"It's all about how people live their lives today; we're connected 24/7," said Hoyt Harper, senior vice president of brand management for the Sheraton Group, who says, yes, he is among those who take a peek if he wakes up in the middle of the night.

Though 85 percent of respondents said they feel compelled to maintain some work connection day and night, seven days a week, the same percentage said such technologies allow them to spend more time out of the office with friends and family. Indeed, 62 percent said they love their handheld devices.

However, that late-night hit may be a contributing factor to a rising problem: stress-induced chronic insomnia.

If you have trouble sleeping, checking your smart phone before bed or in the middle of the night can contribute to the problem, said Marta Maczaj, co-director of the sleep disorders center at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson and associate professor of psychiatry at New York University. When you go to bed, you're supposed to "calm down, relax, unwind - -you need to put work behind you."

Choices
Users of personal digital assistants told a survey that if they had to choose:

49 percent could live without their smart phone

35 percent could live without their significant other

16 percent could live without their pet

Source: Studylogic PDA Work-Life Usage Study

[oakie]

your computer must have a flux capacitor. this has been posted over and over... and over, since monday.

i think we should all just go ahead and repost it, completely sack the first few pages of this forum, and get it out of our systems.

[Crackberrykills]

your computer must have a flux capacitor. this has been posted over and over... and over, since monday.

i think we should all just go ahead and repost it, completely sack the first few pages of this forum, and get it out of our systems.

Back to the Future allusion. Nice. Very true on all accounts however.

[CrackerJackBob]

I for one have my phone just about everywhere I go. Call me crazy, but, I have to be on call all the time and make sure everything goes right.

[Crackberrykills]

Yeah, that's cool. I tend to leave mine at home when I go to the movies or to the gym. I just do not see the need to have my BB at those places.

[barbwyr]

Mines with me all the time. I hate it when I leave it in the bedroom and hear it ring and have to run to catch the call.

[Realestatepro]

my berry does sit on the night stand right next to my bed at night... however i do use it as my alarm clock as well soo i guess thats not too weird but yes i have found myself checking it in the middle of the night if i happen to wake up...