Chesuncook Lake. Posted on Flickr by cluczkow.
Do you check your email from the bathroom? What about while dining at fancy restaurants?
If you answered yes, you’re not alone. Three years ago, an AOL survey found that Washington DC is the most email-addicted city in the country. About three in four Washingtonians admitted to checking their email from a restaurant. A full 65 percent admitted to reading their email in the bathroom.
This isn’t surprising — Washington is a plugged-in town. Even the President uses a Blackberry. When Obama entered office, he famously decided to hold onto his smartphone. (And Blackberrys are the smartphones of choice. While Blackberrys outnumber iPhones two-to-one nationally, the ratio is closer to 106:1 in Capitol Hill offices.)
I’ll admit to being an email-addicted Washingtonian. It’s the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night. And even though it has been illegal since 2004, I’ve certainly replied to emails from behind the wheel. Even when traveling outside the United States, I’ve kept my blackberry on and responded to emails.
That all changed earlier this month, though, with a canoe trip to T3-R12, an unincorporated township in Maine’s Great North Woods. While I didn’t experience the shakes, it certainly made me realize just how much I’ve come to depend on connectedness. It’d be great to say I felt liberated – perhaps motivated to toss my Blackberry in the trash – but instead, a world without cell phones was just sort of creepy.
What about you? Do you respond to emails while in your pajamas or ever pulled out your Blackberry while on a date? What’s the longest you’ve gone without a smartphone?
My trip to Peru in the beginning of the summer was the first time in years that I have been 100% disconnected for multiple days. It was easier to let go than I thought it would be, although every time we had a question about something we were looking at, I would instinctively reach for my phone to look up the answer. But once we got off the trail and into a town again and I had a chance to check email, I really didn’t want to. I went into an internet cafe only because I promised my family I’d check in and let them know I was safe after the hike. And when I looked at the countless unread emails, I quickly closed the window before reading any of them because I wasn’t ready to let go of being off the grid quite yet. It was pretty great and I’m going to make an effort to go off the grid more when on vacation.
My tendency to check email is usually in response to someone else doing something similar. If I’m out to dinner and my dining partner gets a phone call or is doing something with her blackberry, I’ll get bored and pull mine out too. It’s horribly dysfunctional but it’s better than watching her check my email (and less intrusive than pulling out the big old library book I have stashed in my bag).
I’m going off the grid for a week starting Saturday and feel really weird about it. My family will be able to reach me via a landline in case of emergency so it could be worse, but no cell phone, blackberry, or internet for a week! I think the last time I did that was 1998. I’ve always had access to an internet cafe at the very least. I’m most scared of the disaster I’m going to find in my inbox when I return.
I hate being off the grid; it makes me miserable. I don’t really see the point. I’m so much more stressed out not knowing what’s going on, which is kind of the opposite of what a vacation is supposed to be. I may check it less often than I would normally, but I’m not comfortable knowing that it’s simply not possible to check in. Plus, it’s just my dad and I family-wise, so it’s not really an option to be unavailable to him.
I could live without a tv before I could live without the internet and email. (And I could ditch the phone altogether in exchange for just text/email/internet.)
The longest I’ve gone without my BlackBerry was a week in 2009 when I was in Argentina, and that was only because I couldn’t get my sim card to work. And even then we checked our email at a little cafe.
Addiction is probably an accurate diagnosis.
Don’t own a Smartphone, and I don’t always answer my ‘traditional’ cell phone. I’m just not that important and I draw boundaries between my work and my life. I have nothing against people who feel the need to be so connected, but I get incredibly annoyed when I’m out with friends and they constantly check their Blackberries/iPhones while we’re talking! Rarely is there a work emergency at 9:30 on a Friday night that can’t wait until Monday morning. I spent 5 days this summer no TV, phone, email, Internet, not even a newspaper. It was wonderful!
It is precisely fear of such a compulsion that I don’t have a smartphone right now. I really don’t want to be that connected, but I know if the option is there, I will take it to the extreme. As it is right now, I get antsy if I’m not checking up on my various internet accounts several times a day. I’ve already got a problem; I don’t want to exacerbate it.
I used to be a complete addict — reading email everywhere, all the time. Then one night at dinner in a restaurant with friends, there was a moment when I looked up and realized everybody was either overtly or surreptitiously checking messages. That was it for me. At home, smartphones are not allowed at the table or while we’re having a conversation. When out with friends, if the e-distractions get out of hand I’ll try to politely steer attention back to the in-person conversation. I have also recently stopped leaving it on the nightstand. I plug it in in another room so I don’t even see it until I actually need to. I’m still an addict by most measures, but drawing some lines makes it less intrusive and reminds me to pay attention to the people around me.
I travelled for 6 months overseas and didn’t have a smartphone or a phone at all. To be honest, it was the greatest feeling in the world. I’d pop into the ocassional internet cafe if I needed some information or news from back home, but I didn’t miss it at all. What I discovered is that…..it’s amazing what you see and who you meet, when you aren’t looking down at your phone!
Im on vacation in Northern Cali and instead of enjoying the views from a lovely little drive in the country I was catching up on some e-reading. But we are who we are and what entertains us entertains us. At least I always remind myself to put the phone completely away whenever Im at a restaurant/table w other people.