Are you over connected? Put down that blackberry

Over the past six months I have watched my 12 and 13 year old daughters start off with blackberry's as a communication devise so their mother and I can reach them when they are at their activities. I have watched in curiosity as a parent watches a child put a puzzle together together, watching them and hoping to see they reach the goal.

As a responsible parent, I would from time to time review the text messages going in and out of the blackberry. What I realized is 99% of the communications going in and out of were senseless and non essential.



here is a typical thread:

Hi, what is up?

nothing

how about you?

nothing

cool

are on the computer

no, how about you?

ugh, I read a couple hundred of these threads and realized that my teenagers really don't need texting. Once I had done this, I then went to start analyzing the communications that my wife and I text to each other plus the email and text messages sent to many professional colleags. My findings were not much different. We are living in a world of over communication. Most of it is noise and not needed.

I challenge you in 2009 to take a step back and look at your level of communications and how much of it is a distraction. How much of it is really needed?

Maybe it's time to put your handheld away and get back to work...