My Blackberry and me: A love-hate relationship

As annoyed as I was at my friend's phone addiction, I have to admit that I'm an addict too.

Maha Amin March 11, 2011
I was meeting my friend after 18 months. We hadn’t seen each other since our college days and athough we had kept in touch, Skype is really not an adequate substitute for a face-to-face conversation.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to meeting and catching up. Conversation started, we laughed, we talked but she devoted an absurdly large amount of attention to her BlackBerry.

Every three minutes there would be a ‘ting’ after which she would pick up her phone and read something, smile, giggle or frown, and type furiously. The first few times, I waited patiently and listened to her “I’m so sorry, this is just so important, I promise it’s the last one,” with a smile.

By the seventh time I was staring moodily into space, by the eleventh I was tapping my fingers impatiently on the table and by the sixteenth I was just angry.

I mean, this was downright rude, right? No one should be ignored for a phone — that’s just simple breach of etiquette.

Since then, the BlackBerry craze has surged. Recently, I had to buy a new phone, so I decided to get a BlackBerry. But I knew there was no way I was going to turn into one of ‘those’ addicted sorts.

Yesterday, I went out for coffee with a few friends and during our conversation, my phone ‘tinged’. Naturally, I picked it up and since BlackBerry Messenger shows when a message has been read, I have to reply and then when a reply comes, I have to read it right?

I’ve become one of them!

I knew it the second I saw my friends’ smiles turning into frowns. The tapping on the table began, but I couldn’t stop.

It’s really not my fault. It’s such a great way of keeping in touch! My sister in America, my cousin in Canada, my mamoo in Dubai, my best friend in Australia – they are all a few ‘tings’ away. I can receive pictures, I can have group chats, and I know the second anything happens, I’ll be informed immediately.

It’s great, but it’s awful being dependent – on a phone.
WRITTEN BY:
Maha Amin A LUMS graduate working as a sub-editor on the Life & Style pages of The Express Tribune.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (21)

Abdul Moiz | 13 years ago | Reply I think you r just new to BB... whts ur BB pin??? :P :P
Deen Sheikh | 13 years ago | Reply Truly a waste of blog space, Maha, you could have written a better piece it does not even feel complete, courtesy of your ending paragraph.
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