'Why Your Blackberry Ain't No Date Book'

Why Your Blackberry Ain't No Date Book

By Brian K White at 01/23/2007 08:39

Why Your Blackberry Ain't No Date Book

As technology continues its unstoppable progression towards the future, the question of "what's so good about it" become fewer and fewer. Today, the better question isn't what makes technology something you should adopt as much as why it might be something you should resist. As it turns out, a day-planner has many benefits that a Blackberry can't touch; practically as well as legally.

I interviewed an attorney last week about this article, under the belief that I was writing about the myriad benefits of using a Blackberry handheld device. It's a pretty easy technology to adopt, for sure, since it is a telephone, internet connection, and PDA type device few other products can rival. What I didn't realize was the many, inherent, undeniable shortcomings to Blackberry type devices.

First of all, your data isn't exactly set in stone. Though they are fantastic internet devices, they are prone to data loss, but more so to data misplacement. By this I mean that there will be appointments and contacts you make that, no matter how important, will disappear into your forgotten past, even if you don't lose the information outright.

Imagine that; you made an appointment, went out and pitched the client, and then forget to follow up with them because the even occurred in the past. It's easy to meet the needs of items you set in the future, but it's always cumbersome to go back and skim over the appointments you've already had, and right there, at least according to Maria, the attorney, they are already long forgotten.

Worse for her has been that, as an attorney, she can't check her appointment calendar while in court. You know the time, perhaps, when the judge says to your attorney, "Does the 24th at 10:00AM work for you?" She doesn't have an answer because it's against the law for her to turn on her Blackberry in the courtroom, because it's also a cell phone.

So she has her Blackberry, but she also has her notebook planner. That's double duty, and not the sort of truth you'll see in a tech commercial.

Then comes the invariable dead battery situation. Once her battery goes dead, which it frequently does, she has no telephone numbers, no schedule and no idea when she's supposed to be where, and often even the question of with whom she'll meet when she arrives.

Nobody can take your goody gadgets away from you, and heaven help those that might try, but if you haven't used a hand-written planner book or address book in some years, today may be the time to get one and give it another shot. You already know the benefits of the toys and gadgets, but you may have forgotten the benefits of a pocket-sized planner, and for what they cost, trying it out again for the many benefits won't serve you wrong.

By Brian K White