Are we using technology or is technology using us?
May 12th, 2008 HACK Posted in Technology and Relationships |
One of the parent bloggers we follow on the ParentPower twitter feed, Jane Porricelli, just posted a tweet about being featured in a recent CNN article entitled,“Get your BlackBerry out of our bed!”, which covers a growing problem among couples - the use of laptops and cell phones in the bedroom and other areas of the home.
In reading the article it reminded me of a story my wife once told me about one of her brothers (I won’t reveal his name, but everyone in the family will know exactly who I’m talking about) and his BlackBerry. One day when her brother was visiting, he asked her what games she played the most on her BlackBerry and her top scores. He was quite surprised that she did not play any of them.
Shocked, my wife’s brother inquired, “So, what do you when you’re in the bathroom?”
Well, apparently he was onto something, because according to the Solutions Research Group (referenced in the CNN article), more than 63 percent of BlackBerry users actually take them into the bathroom.
My wife? Well, she claims she uses her BlackBerry just for business (wink-wink) and not in the bathroom, but the truth is - when she travels, I get more information from her Facebook profile than our phone calls at the end of the day. In fact, she updates her profile sometimes as we drive in the car (don’t worry - I’m the one driving), go shopping or sit down at a restaurant to have dinner. That she has not become addicted to Twitter is a great mystery to me.
However, this comes to the points made in the CNN article and some of the comments I’ve seen posted around the Internet and in Twitter concerning relationships and the use of technology in spaces we traditionally thought of as being more intimate and interpersonal zones.
Sometimes we need to recognize that despite the improved productivity we gain from using technology, we can’t allow those tools to damage our relationships or breakdown the level of personal contact we have with other people - especially our significant others.
Let us know what you think and if there are any resources to helping families manage their technology addictions… er… habits… You can post comments to this blog posting, Tweet us at http://twitter.com/parentpower, or send us an email at: myvoice@parentpowerindex.com.