A Berry Powerful Device

In my wonderings about town, I see many of us in the famous ‘crackberry prayer’ pose, thumb-typing into our cell phones, SmartPhones or PDAs so carefully held between our hands. Whether it is emailing, texting or looking something up on our tiny browsers, no doubt, our lives have now expanded to reach beyond our immediate boundaries, on to global levels.

There were times when this was thought to be purely a “business pose”, enacted by the busy leaders and followers of commerce, replying to messages of immediate job-related need, but it seems just about everywhere I look, it has gone beyond the suits, and started to dip into a more personal aspect of our lives.

Perfect example of the ideal device, a famous advertising campaign that initially ran in the NY times last Fall—and that occasionally I see in some commercial building elevators— poses the same question, repeatedly: “Ask Someone Why They Love Their Blackberry”.  And as a berry user, whenever I read it, I smile, as my head cites so many reasons. It is something that I could not understand only 2 years ago. For so long I refused to “fall into that trend”. Just like I refuse even today to fall into the I-Pod trend.

But for a busy NYC Girl, with more than two email addresses: business, personal, really personal, etc… you need one central spot where to funnel all your emails, text messages, phone calls, etc. without having to be glued to the computer screen, checking different inboxes or multiple devices. A control-freak-impatient NYC type simply cannot live without it. Emails reach me at the speed of a text message, as they are being sent. And I can get back to people who are important in my daily dealings, right on the spot, as I filter the unnecessary from the necessary. But rarely a beat gets missed when it comes to my e-communications. In my opinion, the next question the ad campaign should be asking is: “Ask someone how did they live without it?”

Technology has enabled the busy multifaceted to become more productive. And for those with “double-lives” there is nothing better. And don’t you go getting any ideas when I say “double lives”, for those of you girrrrrls, you know well what I mean. Our professional lives, our personal lives and even at times, our lives at home. Trying to keep up with them all, and separate at the same time, can be quite a challenge. And these little devices are great help.

No doubt, with the advent of the internet, cell phones, email, Craigslist, Match.com and the likes, life with a berry or other PDA has gotten a lot more interesting than the daily company memos. And now that even G-chat and the likes are enabled for the blackberry and other pda versions, who needs anything else? You know it has become an important personal device when you rather lose your wallet than your PDA or berry.

The funny thing is that just like Pavlov’s dogs used to begin to salivate at the sound of the bell in his experiments decades ago, for some people today, the vibrating or ringing tones of their cell phones, blackberries or PDAs can have a Pavlovian effect on their bodies, their psyche and their actions. Perfect example, when that special someone sends a text, or calls, and your phone chimes that special tune, have you noticed how your body reacts? Do you wonder then if people around you can notice the look of your eyes, the impatience inside your mind, if you happen to be in the midst of a conversation with someone else and you can’t wait to read that message?  Thanks to these little devices, unwittingly, we have all become like Pavlov’s dogs, at a much greater scale. We can even now have romances across boundaries we thought insurmountable in times past.

Long distance letters used to take months to arrive. Travel used to be so slow. Only a century ago!

I will never forget as a teen having read the famous romance novel “Maria”, written by Colombian writer Jorge Isaacs. It was written between 1864 and 1867. Despite being Isaacs' only novel, Maria is considered one of the most important works of 19th century Spanish American literature (Wikipedia).

The story relates the tragic love story between Maria and her cousin Efrain, both natives of Valle del Cauca. The characters fall in love with each other but circumstances prevent the full realization of their love. The first hurdle is Efrain's departure for six years to Bogota in order to pursue his studies. After Efrain returns to Cauca the couple is able to live together, albeit for only three months, before he leaves for London to continue his education. Two years later Efrain returns to Colombia to find that Maria has died of illness (Wikipedia).

Actually, I remember reading that the letters went back and forth between them, yet they would take months to reach each other. And when the letter reached Efrain in London urging him to return because Maria was very ill, he immediately began his journey back (which was by boat back then). Unfortunately by the time he returned, she had already died.

How tragic! And how far we’ve come from those times!  We should feel grateful that now we can fall in love with anyone across the globe, travel within the same day, if necessary, text each other across the world, receive a love letter in an instant, and be able to offer a reply right away. It actually does not give us much time for thought and meditation, but there are certain matters that go on pure instinct, and when we filter them through our conscious minds, at times it could cause things to go awry.

I was just reading in another blog that there are two kinds of people: the “thrill-seekers” and the “fear-avoiders”.  The blogger describes thrill seekers as those who “love growth. They most enjoy a day where they try something that was difficult, or –even better—said to be impossible, and then pull it off.”  On the contrary, “Fear avoiders hate change. They just want the world to stay just the way it is…. They resent being pushed into the unknown because the unknown is a scary place. (Seth Godin)

And so I say, these PDAs and other “berry” powerful devices are not for everyone. But I certainly would dare to say that they are for most thrill-seekers. They are the instrument of the daring and the bold. Life’s too exciting to be missing it by checking on your email on your computer screen 3 times or more a day. You’d be missing too
much, or not to be able to have a successful and ongoing affair with some fantastic sexy woman overseas. And then on a whim, buy a plane ticket that will take the two of you together in a matter of hours. All feasible thanks to your handheld "berry powerful device" with instant "push message" technology that works in over 200 countries around the world. What else can you ask for?

And in case you're wondering, no. No one is sponsoring this article. LOL. Perhaps they should. Right?

I sure wonder what would have happened to Jorge Isaac’s characters, Efrain and Maria, had they lived in this century. You know the story would have been different. Perhaps we would have been reading a happy ending.

And while a happy ending is not guaranteed by owning one of these tiny but “berry powerful devices” I can assure you, that certain happy and thrilling moments are guaranteed, if you happen to be the lucky owner of one of these.