The Blackberry as an Ego Soother? Mmmm……..

My wife and I flew to Los Angeles yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, and along the way (and it certainly is a Loooooong flight - six hours) I perused the NY Times for a little holiday cheer. Then I read the editorial section.

There was a piece by Roger Cohen entitled “Turkey Tune-Out Time“, and in it he proceeds to take a very hard shot at my beloved Blackberry.

I’ve admitted on this very page to a Blackberry addiction, but have argued that the device is actually keeping me saner rather than crazier (because it gives me the comfort of being “ahead” of things instead of behind - being behind is my biggest stress producer).

Cohen prefers to put this marvel of technology in a different category - as an “ego-meter“. He asked a management psychologist for support of this tag, and he got it. Says the psychologist:

“A BlackBerry poses three problems. Can you manage your need for control? Can you manage your need to be important? Can you manage your need to feel in the know? These are real psychological challenges because at any moment you can jump in and fire off an e-mail and get closure immediately. But it’s superficial closure.”

Whoa.

That’s a lot of stuff to process, but I’ll give it a try. Do I have needs to control, be important, and feel “in the know”? In other words, do I have a big ego to feed?

No, no, perhaps, and heck no.

I simply care about the company I work for and the teammates who work their tails off 24/7- so I like to be available in case they need me. I find this caring to be true for most people I know who carry Blackberries around with them, so I think it’s a bit cavalier to make a generalization that anyone who uses such a device is only doing so to massage their egos.

However, Cohen did make a few excellent points about e-mail that I agree with, namely, that it is a “lousy tool for conflict resolution, a multiplier of misunderstandings“.

He is also an advocate of “no e-mail Fridays“, a practice started by several companies to slow the avalanche of inbox activity that oftentimes keeps a person chained to their desk. Actually, this isn’t a bad idea, because it does get a bit ridiculous when I’m having an e-mail conversation with the person in the next office.

What we really need to do is pick up our Blackberries and call each other - it’s much more personal that way, and my ego will be soothed to boot.

A twofer!

Have a great weekend.