As I write this blog I am drinking a strong cup of coffee and watching it snow in an Atlanta suburb. I have just had my first real meal and good night of sleep in a week. I think most of us working slobs hit stretches of time that test our ability to cope. The past week has done just that or me. This next week will be no different. I find myself really wanting a vacation, but I have forgotten how to take one.
I have been on-call for the past 11 years on a 24/7 schedule. I get phone calls, emails and text messages at all hours of the day, and that’s just from Nick! Throw work on top of that and I almost never have so much as an hour to myself. I get work calls, emails and text messages from all over the world that require immediate action. I also get the same from friends that dictate immediate attendance of some club, restaurant or cigar bar. The communiques from the friends are usually fun, if not titillating.
When you plan a vacation do you take into consideration whether or not you will have cell coverage? Most of my friends now have iPhones, the remainder have BlackBerry devices, and only a few have traditional cell phones. Most of my friends need to have cell phone coverage, if not for work or family contact, then because they are just as addicted to being connected as I am.
While I enjoy being able to contact most people almost all of the time, I’m starting to think that the constant interaction with people is having a deleterious effect on my psyche. I like my “alone time” and I have just realized that I haven’t had any in ages. I’m old enough to remember going out on dates and not having a cell phone ring or chirp announcing a text message from a friend or more awkwardly another girl you are seeing. I know, I know, simply turn off the cell phone and viola no more interruptions. Except I can’t. I’m on call all the time, and even if I wasn’t I have family issues that require I be accessible. Besides, I’m pretty sure I would begin seizing if I didn’t have my iPhone.
My text messages usage is now around 4000 messages per month, and my phone usage is about 3000 minutes (thank god most of my friends and clients are on the same cell phone provider that I am) and about 94 mb of data. This months usage will blow those numbers away and I don’t foresee it going lower anytime soon. I have reached the point where I feel, as Nick said the other night, “naked without my iPhone.”
Are you as dependent on phone calls, emails and text messages as I am?
-David Wagner is thrilled that Apple has licensed Active Sync to further his electronic addiction!