Prof. Jane Ballis

Balancing a Blackberry....

I need to use a Blackberry for work. It’s not really an optional thing for me and my work demands that I have it on so I am reachable 24 hours a day. The problem is I have developed this total compulsion to using the thing and I feel like I am missing out on half of my life staring into the screen. And the thing is it’s almost never for anything important. My kid will be asking me some question and trying to get my attention and instead of talking to him with any attention I pull out my phone and check my email as I give him some half assed answer. It’s really terrible and I recognize this at the big picture level but it’s like a habit now that I can’t break free from and I do it all the time without even thinking about it. I will even check my emails in the middle of the night and it’s the first thing I do in the morning. If I didn’t need to use it for work I’d throw it in the pool, I swear, but that’s not really an option. So how can I keep using it without it being the master and center of my universe. This sounds like a trivial concern, I know, but I really can’t seem to control myself and it is driving me, and everyone in my family very crazy.