All those in favor of President Obama giving up his Blackberry raise your hand? All those in favor of him keeping it? I thought so.
A recent Newsweek article titled, “Will the BlackBerry Sink the Presidency?” delved into this topic. The article mainly discusse the danger of interruptions by the Blackberry on brain processes. The authors write, “Given the damage caused by interruption overload and continuous partial attention, we can infer either of two things about people who use their BlackBerry while holding a conversation, weighing decisions, trying to solve a problem or attempting to do creative work with, they claim, no ill effects. Possibility one: they are lying. Possibility two: their work just isn't that hard.” This was based on research from the Harvard Business School.
Can you picture it? “Excuse me Queen Elizabeth, I didn’t hear you. I was looking at my BlackBerry.”
I would imagine the President gets interrupted by many more things, such as people, more than he might his BlackBerry. In fact, I don’t know how he can sit and think with the number of meetings, calls and much ado about whatever whenever and wherever he is. His BlackBerry probably allows him to take a step back and get lost in his thoughts once in a while.
The authors also write, “Truly novel solutions and ideas emerge when the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts. That is hard to achieve when you are attacking the problem head on.”
There is also something about low self-esteem and using a BlackBerry. If that’s true, then we have millions upon millions of people in all positions with low self-esteem. Don’t blame that on the BlackBerry.
I use one. It saves me as I am not in the office all day and can stay quite connected to the mother ship and my clients. I am more confident with it in hand when I need to be out of the office.
My point: Fortunately, the folks at Newsweek ended the piece with “…If you're the most powerful man in the world? Not a worry.” Whew. I got scared for a minute that people really believed the president wasn’t going to be able to run the country well because he had a BlackBerry. What’s next? Take away books because they might give him ideas?
A recent Newsweek article titled, “Will the BlackBerry Sink the Presidency?” delved into this topic. The article mainly discusse the danger of interruptions by the Blackberry on brain processes. The authors write, “Given the damage caused by interruption overload and continuous partial attention, we can infer either of two things about people who use their BlackBerry while holding a conversation, weighing decisions, trying to solve a problem or attempting to do creative work with, they claim, no ill effects. Possibility one: they are lying. Possibility two: their work just isn't that hard.” This was based on research from the Harvard Business School.
Can you picture it? “Excuse me Queen Elizabeth, I didn’t hear you. I was looking at my BlackBerry.”
I would imagine the President gets interrupted by many more things, such as people, more than he might his BlackBerry. In fact, I don’t know how he can sit and think with the number of meetings, calls and much ado about whatever whenever and wherever he is. His BlackBerry probably allows him to take a step back and get lost in his thoughts once in a while.
The authors also write, “Truly novel solutions and ideas emerge when the brain brings together unrelated facts and thoughts. That is hard to achieve when you are attacking the problem head on.”
There is also something about low self-esteem and using a BlackBerry. If that’s true, then we have millions upon millions of people in all positions with low self-esteem. Don’t blame that on the BlackBerry.
I use one. It saves me as I am not in the office all day and can stay quite connected to the mother ship and my clients. I am more confident with it in hand when I need to be out of the office.
My point: Fortunately, the folks at Newsweek ended the piece with “…If you're the most powerful man in the world? Not a worry.” Whew. I got scared for a minute that people really believed the president wasn’t going to be able to run the country well because he had a BlackBerry. What’s next? Take away books because they might give him ideas?
