Thursday, August 14, 2008

Shovels and Blackberries

Imagine this scenario - you're sitting on your back deck, enjoying a siesta from a hard week's work. Perhaps you're engaging in a conversation about plans for tomorrow evening. Suddenly, with no warning, you see your shovel through the tool shed doorway. You, with this implement grabbing your attention, go over and start digging a hole, leaving your drink, your spouse and your visions for a pleasant Saturday behind you.

A little far fetched, but we see this all the time. Mind you, people don't want to admit being outwitted by a shovel, so they use their Blackberries, instead. Blackberries have the uncanny ability to get us to change our focus with no rationale. Simply because a message is incoming, we pay attention. More often than not, we actually take that message and give it effort. You were on something else, but that's forgotten.

I actually don't trust myself with a Blackberry. They're powerful tools, and I know they can be good, but they can be very, very bad. I have to get way better at being deliberate about that space between stimulus and response before I rely on something so potent.

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