Get rid of the blackberry!

I recently got back from a fabulous three week vacation in Greece. I was completely disconnected from phones and computers. I didn't check voice mail and I didn't check email. It was fantastic.

Years ago, I was one of those people who didn't want to get a cell phone - I finally caved about 4 years ago and do find it a great convenience. I use it for calling out only and barely anyone has the number. Then about a year and a half ago I decided to get email on it. What a convenience! I was checking my email every chance I got. I was never "off".

I have noticed more and more that when people get together for dinner or coffee, the first thing they do is put their phone on the table. I saw three women do it in Greece over dinner and it reminded me of cowboys taking their guns out of the holster. I find this quite distasteful. What about self control? I know that my self control in areas such as this is rather weak, so... today I cancelled the email on my phone. I am not a brain surgeon, no one is going to die if I don't get back to them immediately. I also figure that this will help me separate personal and business life more, which I think is a good thing - it will definitely help with time management. Who wants to be working all the time anyway? We'll see how this goes.

Life is moving so fast and it seems that relationships are becoming less and less personal. I challenge you to monitor your use of your cell phone. My previous experiment which seems to be working well is that I have also taken myself off Facebook. It has been a month and I am not shaking or convulsing without it. I found it was a time waster and if I really want to have a relationship with these people and vice versa, hopefully one of us will pick up the phone and get together for an in person visit.