My Blackberry Curve Phone Addiction: aka Crackberry

At first, I was very resistant to the Blackberry or any phone that had email access. Why would I want to be connected all the time? I enjoyed my time away from the computer. I had purchased a Palm Pilot years back, and I wasn't happy at all with the usability of it. It took an eternity to get connected online, and the PDA was huge. It also wasn't a phone, so I had no need to take except maybe on vacations.

So what sold me on the Blackberry?

I was an email checker before. I would check my email several times a day. Start up and log onto the computer, log into your email, read. Log out, log off, turn off the PC, and repeat. This process can become very tedious. I was also curious about having access to the web 24/7. There are so many instances where it would've been helpful to have internet access, I knew I would use this (like "when are the movies playing?"). Like a sign from above, there was a sale on the latest Blackberry Curve model, and my contract was up, so I had a credit for the phone. I wound up paying only around $100 for my phone between the credit and the sale, which I thought was a bargain. But the first hit is always free...

It's not all bad having a Blackberry. In fact, it's pretty nice being connected all the time. One of the other benefits is that friends, your work, or clients can email you instead of texting you. Text often has a character limit of around 160 characters, but in an email, you're unlimited. Respond right away, email back, or delete it from your email. Or, just ignore it.

The withdrawal symptoms for being without access to your Blackberry can be frightening. Reaching for the phone when it's not in your pocket is one of the biggest ones. It's like the wild west, but in place of the gun, it's a Blackberry. A cowboy from the wild west without his gun would be lost. A Crackberry addict without his berry, too, will be very lost. Here are some of the other horrifying symptoms you could experience without your phone:

1. No email access. You actually have to log onto a computer and check your email.

2. The muscles in your thumbs start to swell with disuse. You've developed some pretty hefty thumb muscles, and it would be a shame to let them become sloppy and out of shape.

3. An inability to enjoy anything in life, because your worried about Blackberry and feel disconnected. You're just waiting for that next fix from your phone.