Breaking the connection

I've had a cell phone for a number of years. I started out originally wanting one for the reason everyone says they want one: in case of an emergency. It made sense to me, seeing that I am single and travel alone frequently, and it gave me a sense of comfort knowing that whether I had a flat tire, or an accident, or needed some other kind of help, it was just a phone call away (the first week that I had a cell phone, I actually did have a tire go flat driving on an interstate). Then I realized that I traveled to a lot of out-of-the-way places - the mountains of Vermont, backroads of Massachusetts, even my hometown in the Adirondacks - places where there just aren't cell towers around. So the excuse "for an emergency" quickly disintegrated, and my cell phone started becoming a security blanket. "Oh, it doesn't matter what happens, I have a cell phone." Of course that was presuming it was charged, which it wasn't (isn't) always. I receive few calls on it because I don't give out the number much, and I make very few calls on it. Still, I felt it gave my family and friends another way to try and reach me in an emergency. Justification and rationalization reign!

I work for an Orlando-based 40-attorney law firm with two additional offices, one 50 miles away and the other 100 miles away. Because my position in the IT department calls me away from my desk frequently and requires regular travel to the other offices, I am the reluctant owner/keeper of a pager and Blackberry device, in addition to my cell phone. I can now be reached by home phone, work phone, cell phone, home e-mail, work e-mail, and pager. If I don't answer my home phone, work phone, or cell phone, I have voice mail to accept a message. And the Blackberry device allows me to remotely access work e-mail and if necessary, receive phone calls. (BTW, a Blackberry device is the computer equivalent of the stuff sold at traveling medicine shows around the turn of the century, you know, "Doc Johnson's Miraculous Healing Potion! Cures cancer - rheumatism - heart ailments - stomach upset - what-ails-you"). You can access your e-mail, calendar, Internet, address book, games, etc. and even make phone calls, all from one palm-sized device. Yessir, throw away your PC. (Not yet, Doc.)

Personally, I'd just as soon have only a cell phone and voice mail, and leave it at that. Why do we feel the need to be so connected, all the time, everywhere? To make ourselves feel more important? To make other people think we are important? Who decided that we all need to be reachable 24/7? What can possibly be so important? A wise person once told me, if no one's gonna die, it ain't important. With apologies to the IT community, I am of the opinion that there are very few reasons that anyone needs a pager, except if you're a doctor for the aforementioned reason. If you're on vacation, you should be able to enjoy it. If you're at lunch, you should be able to eat uninterrupted. If you're at your kid's 3rd grade play, don't even THINK about turning on your beeper. We all need to slow down and relax. Thoreau once said, "I love best to have each thing in its season only, and enjoy doing without it at all other times. It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all." To loosely paraphrase, work is work, pleasure is pleasure. We're killing ourselves to gain the upperhand and missing out on life, on what matters.

What brought all this on? I misplaced (and presumably lost) my pager Friday night, somewhere between entering a scrapbooking store on the way home from work and entering my apartment two hours later. It was clipped on my pants, and then it wasn't. While it's important to me from a work perspective, the idea that there is -- at least temporarily -- one less way to contact me is somehow gratifying. Oh, I've called the pager company to report the loss and they're overnighting a replacement for me, which I should receive tomorrow. But in the meantime, I'm enjoying life without one and frankly haven't missed it.

Try breaking the connection sometime, on purpose if you have to. You'll like it. :-)