Of Blackberry Battles and iPhone Envy

Our society has gone mad. Mad as a Hatter I tell you. We live our lives managed and controlled by small handheld wireless devices that keep us connected to anything that is more than twenty feet away from us. And anything more than twenty feet away from us must be more interesting than what's immediately in front of us, isn't it? Gone are the days when we can sit at a restaurant and patiently wait for our lunch to arrive, passing time by glancing at other patrons and wondering if they looked in the mirror that day. Instead we turn to our wireless device and check for that all-important e-mail that is about to arrive. Or that voicemail message. Or breaking news. Or search for anything on Google. What have we become? If that weren't enough, it's a competition among the type of device. The latest obsession is the battle of the new Blackberry Storm versus the old Blackberry. Could it be better than the iPhone? Users of the traditional Blackberry models (with an old fashioned keyboard- GASP!) are having trouble adjusting to a flat screen touch model. I sense a case of iPhone envy. Blackberry users are trading up to the new Storm to be as sleek and stylish as those hip and trendy iPhone users. The makers of the Blackberry are no doubt envious of Apple's success from the iPhone. (or is it their shareholders?) You betcha. But with good reason-Apple has sold something like 5 zillion iPhones and it's still growing. I must admit, I am fascinated by it all. I have a Blackberry, mainly because it's a work device. But truth be told, if the choice were entirely mine, I would probably still use an old-fashioned Blackberry with the ever-so-ancient keyboard versus the new Blackberry Storm or iPhone. At least for now, that is unless I get abducted by Aliens and have my brain re-programmed to start liking advanced technology. In the meantime I'll stick with my regular old Blackberry fossil. I'll leave the new fangled stuff to the "early adopters" and modern folk, who understand the high-tech and other arcane matters. At least I don't use a typewriter to write this blog.

above: the old-fashioned BlackBerry vs. the hip and trendy iPhone..who wins the battle? I'm not sure it really matters. What does matter is what's in front of you, so try to live in the moment. In the meantime, hang up your phone, turn off the handheld Internet device and pay attention to the waitress at the restaurant, the girl at the Starbucks drive-thru window, or your other half who is asking you a question.

-Rick Rockhill