I'm an iPhone user. I've been smug today at my BlackBerry friends having twitches as they stroke their keyboarded devices begging for some sort of love to be returned. But nothing is happening. And that's a good thing.
This BlackBerryout is teaching us the power of unplugging. It's teaching us to look up and see the wonderful world around us.
When Eric Schmidt, ex-CEO of Google, gave a commencement at The University of Pennsylvania in 2009 the advice he gave must have sounded odd coming from the head of one of the most influential companies on the web. What he told the students seemed to go against what his company believes in. He asked them to simply unplug and live an analog life.
Schmidt went on to urge the grads to "turn off your computers," and "discover all that is human around us."
Growing up in the 70s and 80s we were told by our parents to "turn off the idiot box." Now, it seems, youth are being asked to "turn off the information box."
Yes, the web is a place for learning and discovery. We make new and interesting connections everyday via Twitter and Facebook. But have you ever met any of these faceless avatars you come in contact with on the web? You can make true friendships with people online, but when it happens in real life that connection becomes so much richer.
It's these human interactions that Schmidt is urging. Instead of pressing send on a text, press send on a call and share your voice. Instead of picking up a controller and conquering a new level on a video game, pick up a ball and pair of shoes and run around a park.
In 2005, an ominous term was coined by author Richard Louv is his book Last Child in the Woods. In it he suggests that the increased lack of outdoor play by younger generations is creating what he calls a Nature Deficit Disorder.
The influence of technology is just one prong of Louv's theory that also blames parental fear on "stranger danger" and increased densification that's restricting childhood access to green space for the next generation's tendency to obesity and violent behaviour.
It's common sense really. Internet, video games, television, gadgets.. they're all great, but they need to be handled with care. Just last week I left my iPhone at home and forgot about it until I was halfway to work. It was oddly uncomfortable not to be able to check email at red lights or instantly call my wife when I needed to tell her something. I was unplugged for an entire day and it gave me the shakes like and addict trying to kick a habit.
And perhaps that's the lesson that needs to be learned, and what better season than summer to learn it.
Perhaps Louv is a little out in left field to call it a disorder, but Schmidt is more on the money when he simply urges us to unplug and discover.
Your BlackBerry doesn't work? Think of it as a good thing.
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