So today, I spent all day at a seminar...the who/what/when/why/where aren't important, but I did see something slightly funny. When they released us for the first break 2 hours into the seminar, all of us immediatly wandered outside and stood around. It was here that I noticed something that caught my funny bone. There we were, all standing around outside in little groups, and I was waiting for all of us to whip out our cigarettes and lighters and have ourselves a little smoke break. But alas, that didn't happen. Can you guess what happened instead? That's right, out of unseen pockets everywhere, dozens of mobile phones appeared and became glued to ears.
I have to admit, it made me chuckle. None of us could hardly go two hours without communicating with someone who was not currently with us, and of course I was right there with them. As soon as the break started, I got on the phone and called my office to see how things were going, and I called Amanda for no other reason than to just hear her voice.
When did we really become that culture? We can't seem to go any time at all without using one of these mobile communications centers. I remeber just 10 years ago or so when cell phones were only for the elite and prestigous. Of couse, I'm one of the worst. My phone is set to tell me immediately when an email is sent to me, plus the standard text messages, and facebook checks, and ebay checks, and calendar checks. Ironically the thing I use least about the phone is the phone itself. I'll only use it when absolutly necessary.
Sometimes I question whether I should continue to rely so heavily on these mobile devices that keep me in touch of what's happening at work. It is beginning to blur the line between my work and my home. When I'm on my couch, my phone will "eep" to signify an email from one of our workers in Belgium or Australia or something. Invariably I'll pick up my phone and see what the email is about. Granted, I rarely respond to it right then, but the thing it...I look at it.
An extension of this is that I can sit here on the couch and connect up to my network at the office, and start doing work (assuming I can get the laptop away from Amanda that is). I'll admit that this is a life saver sometimes...When something goes awry at work at 6 in the morning, I can sit in my pyjamas and fix it from here. But the downside is that I could easily continue working past 5pm, all through the evening...and end up putting in another 40 hours in no-time...all from my couch. That's not necessarily a bad thing, except that fact that I would MUCH rather spend those hours with Amanda doing something other than work. It's just that it's so easy; but again, it blurs that all important distinction between my two lives.
I digress.
All this to say, I don't know if mobile phones are a bad thing or a good thing... but I do find it funny.
What do you think?
Marcus, SGB
I haven’t decided yet if picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate was a good choice for Senator McCain or not. I’m leaning toward not. It is starting to remind me of the whole Harriet Myers thing a few years ago. But that is not the point of this post….
