I took my family to dinner last night. Across from our table was a big family gathering - 12 people - to celebrate a birthday. At the end of the table was a man in his 50s. He sat down and pulled out his Blackberry and proceeded to keep his head down the entire evening. He looked up to order his food. When the food came, he put his Blackberry down and ate. When the Blackberry rang, he immediately dropped what he was eating and answered the email.
He was at the table but he really wasn’t there. His wife who sat across from him ignored him all night as he furiously typed away and kept his head down.
After we left the dinner my wife mentioned to me, “Thank you for not doing email ever at a family event. That was offensive.”
I will say it again, as Karl Marx said, “The more sophisticated the machinery the more barbaric the worker.” I do a lot of email but without balance, you border on addiction.
I dunno, if you can’t manage to ditch the Crackberry for a 15-20 min meal, you might need a new job… Or prepare at least for a new wife.
I agree with the idea that “Too many people confuse activity with progress.” I’ve always said it as “there’s a big difference between movement and progress” but the idea’s the same. I truly believe that we do not get THAT much more accomplished than we did 15-20 years ago, but we spend a lot more effort doing it.
Unfortunately, unless you’re in a position of power, you can’t make it a personal crusade to stop that sort of thing… If you’re not at the top of the food chain, you normally don’t get to decide how often you have to check e-mail, respond to e-mail, etc, because it could mean the difference between staying employed and involuntarily looking for work.
aaron
We’re so glad you are perfect, Ted.
by his Company
That is just to bad for the poor man he is just beeing used.
What a shame for that man’s family, and his employer. His family pays now, and the company will pay later when that fellow burns out. Too many people confuse activity with progress.
There’s a reason those things are referred to, not entirely in jest, as “Crackberries.”
Better quote: “Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.”–Miss Manners (Judith Martin)
I’m sure these are great business tools but it’s pretty sad when you see people walking on the sidewalk with their heads down texting.
People using these in restaurants, sporting events and theaters are the worst. They aren’t even paying attention to what’s going on. Sad this guy blew off prescious time with his family just to check e-mail.
I hate to say it Ted, but commission based jobs are not too much different then sitting at the blackjack table.
Many sales people are addicted to email, for the sole reason of wanting to solidify payrole. It is easy for a salary employee to point fingers, but they dont understand the daily grind and pressure of your pay being an unknown variable.
My brother in law has an I-phone and the other day he and my sister were sitting with my wife and I and the whole time he was playing texas hold-em with his headphones on. My sister really got on his case and I don’t blame her.
All these PDA’s, handhelds, and Nintendo DS’s ARE addictive. Which is probably why I don’t have one.