Welcome to Chris Brady's Blog

"The only way to be happy, is to give happy."

Recent Posts:

“On Call” and the Technology Addiction

January 21, 2009

Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we should. Just because a technology is developed doesn't mean it will improve our lives. Just because something makes communication more convenient doesn't mean it makes it better. Just because we can be contacted anytime, anywhere, for any reason, doesn't mean we should. And, just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean it's right.

Years ago a practice was developed among doctors where partners would take turns scheduling time to be "on call." This was a way of splitting coverage for the time when all of them would be away from the office but still have the requirement of providing urgent care and answers for their collective group of patients. This was originally looked upon as a special responsibility of the medical profession since medical situations could not be made to conform to office hours. It was and is still an effective practice. Participating doctors agree not to leave the geographic area and vow to remain accessible. This has always been considered a significant commitment and one that justified the high compensation medical professionals received. Such a burdensome program was rotated among the partners to share the load.

Then came thousands of inventions designed to "improve our lives." In just over fifteen years, cell phones went from being carried in large bags and used for emergencies to being attached to every adult, teen, and adolescent like binkies in a nursery. Now, without realizing it, EVERYBODY has voluntarily placed themselves "on call." Only they haven't done it for a weekend here and another there, they've done it for every day of their lives! Statistics show that an amazing 61% of Americans check email every day while on vacation! And by the way, only 14% of Americans take two weeks of vacation at a time to begin with!

We've got email and its annoying notifications, instant messages providing constant interruption, text messages and voice mails. We are awash in means and methods of communication that increase the talk and decrease the listening. After a while one becomes numb.

In yesterday's post I quoted the famous Thoreau statement that "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." The only thing that has changed from Thoreau's time is the quiet. It's gone. Today, men lead lives of desperation amongst an endless stream of noise, interruption, and dwindling opportunities for the important moments in life; moments without a chime or a beep or a ring. Moments without an electronic addiction of any kind. Moments of freedom.

My father never once got interrupted by a cell phone call when he played football catch with me in the backyard. He certainly never threw the ball while pinching a phone to his ear with his elbow (as I see at least seventy-five percent of the time in parks and yards. Look for yourself). I never once heard my mom say to me in the car, "Quiet! I'm on the phone!" When my parents were with me, they were WITH me. This is true today only in extreme cases of either chance, or with parents wise enough to fight back.

It makes me wonder. Before we got hit with this onslaught of technological "improvements," did we ever stop to ask whether it would be better? Of course not. Nobody could have seen how frenzied things would become in just fifteen years, nor how addicted people would be to their needless interruptions and electronic tethers. Besides, we are a society that always assumes more is better, that technology is always an improvement, and that the relentless push forward can always be called progress.

I for one, disagree.

We have given up something precious; and we have barely noticed.

Posted in LLR Daily Application

13 responses to ““On Call” and the Technology Addiction”

Jonathon Jones

January 21, 2009

Chris, I know to intimately what you’re referring to here. Several years ago I had my entrepreneurial moment and decided to start an S business in the web hosting industry. I was burnt out on writing software and wanted to “set my own schedule and be my own boss”.
What a disastrous mistake! I spent countless nights up working on computer problems half way around the world and night after night I lost sleep only to be interrupted during the day with text messages about client issues, etc. I remember not being able to go to dinner with my wife without fear of getting an emergency text message that forced us to up and leave for home so that I could work the rest of the night. Not only did it put a strain on our relationship, but it developed all sorts of bad habits, some of which I’m still trying to correct, and taxed my health in ways I didn’t understand until now (Praise the Lord I have Monavie).
Thanks for keeping us grounded, lest we piddle away our precious few moments on the earth while stealing time that rightfully belongs to our family and giving it to others.

LikeLike

Reply
Phyllis Hoff

January 21, 2009

Chris:
I so totally agree with you. Our moments of freedom are very precious and should not be interrupted constantly.
I love what you said about your parents. Mine were the same way.
There are so many missed opportunities.
I know I like to completely turn off work altogether while I am at home.
Thanks again for reminding us about what is really important.
God Bless.
Phyllis

LikeLike

Reply
Dave in FL

January 21, 2009

When I was 16, my parents had the choice of moving closer to where my Dad worked in Colonie, NY or to my Mom’s parents farm in the middle of nowhere. We kids chose the farm. You talk of “quiet”.
Five miles from a small (200 person) town you learn to do things by yourself. You get used to the quiet and self reliance.
I like what you write. You make me think about the good things I’ve experienced in my past. I liked living on the farm.
Green acres is the place to be,
Farm livin is the life for me.
Land spreading out so far and wide
keep the Manhatten just give me the country side.

LikeLike

Reply
Emmalee

January 21, 2009

Thanks for the reminder Chris!! Feb ’08, I left home for the St. Louis Major with my laptop and cell phone on vibrate ,ready for whatever news may come while i was away. Things were out of control at the 9-5 and relationships were strained on the home front. I thought by being in constant contact I would be helping the situations. Instead of focusing on learning and regaining my course, I got swept up in an insanity that could have waited till I got home. I slept through a good chunk of speakers Friday, my head still plugged into the problems in Michigan. I missed most of Saturday in bed trying to just have some time with myself. Never again will I give up somethings so important to me to help a situation that can wait till i get home. Even when I’m home, I try to limit my email/internet time to half an hour or so. I’m trying to break the habit of texting incessantly. Your post bring focus back to these ideas.
I am also reminded how important personal time (no phone, no instant messages, no emails) is for regrouping, making sure the ship is going in the right direction, and learning about me.
Your post reminded me that time away from every distraction focusing on relationships is key. I remember feeling like the phone call was more important then me, when a friend answered their phone while out spending time with me. I eventually became numb to those feelings and started thinking I had just been selfish. I realize that the complacence i developed is wrong. Perhaps I just bought in to the cell phone dogma and let the ever present interruption reshape my personal beliefs.
Thanks Chris!! Your post was very timely this morning. Also, thank you for your speech at the Saginaw seminar this month. The pictorial representation of your life reminded me that I am still burning more oil then gas, in the car that is my life. I am reminded it is time to live long term smarter and not just pinch pennies this month. In the end it will be less costly.

LikeLike

Reply
Dennis Perry

January 21, 2009

I agree totally. We turned our cable off almost 6yrs ago, the $125 per month (Full package) went 2 pay for our team system (Full system) which has been our brain food since. Years ago I watched a movie “Avalon”. It showed the progression of an immigrant from 1914 till his 80’s. Showing the demise of the family unit going from a big dining room table (with laughter, fun, talking) to TV stand dinner (no family interaction). How true is your column. I’d rather read, STP, invest in family time, or play MadGab in FL with you guys. Thanks4your LEADership!
Dennis

LikeLike

Reply
Brent Campau

January 21, 2009

Although I don’t always uphold the practice with the principle, I completely agree.
I usually turn my phone off in certain situations that I feel are more important than anything else at that time. Time with my wife, time at my parents, during church, or maybe even at a business meeting (unless my wife isn’t there….in case she calls because of an emergency.)
I can only think of 1 instance in the past handful of years where an emergency actually happened and I was needed. My wife called me twice during a business meeting and I ignored the call, thinking she forgot where i was and just wanted to chat. Then she was resourceful enough to call my friend who she knew was there too. Well, he notified me that my wife’s car engine blew up and her car was ablaze. She needed me to come and handle her and the situation and bring her home. That was an acceptable emergency call I guess. But you’ll notice that even if I didn’t have a cell phone, she found a way to get a hold of me.
Turn your phone off. They can leave a message. Most things aren’t that important AND urgent.

LikeLike

Reply
dean clouse

January 21, 2009

Amen to that brother! There have been times I was playing with my kids or teaching them a subject I wanted them to understand when my phone started to ring. Many people have witnessed this phenomenon with me now. Most everytime the ask me if I plan on answering my phone. I usually say “nope, that’s why I have voicemail. Unless someone is dying, what I am doing with my kids is more important, and if they are dying, I will get the message soon enough and do what I can”. The look on their face tells me I was speaking Greek to them. One person even remarked that I was immature and irresponible for letting the voicemail kick in. Well, I will send this post to them and see if they want to argue the point with you! Thanks for the backup man. Keep it up!

LikeLike

Reply
Jim Kloosterman

January 21, 2009

This is just a small example of so many of our freedoms we are giving up for the sake of security. Keep up the media war Chris, we all need reminding on so many issues.

LikeLike

Reply
Dom.E.

January 21, 2009

Being a substitute teacher in the middle and high schools, I see it in every school I am at.
The cell phones are a big issue espeically at the high schools. Kids want to text their friends DURING class. Or, they want to text their parents DURING class. And, even worse, the PARENTS TEXT THEIR KIDS DURING CLASS! The kids aren’t even to have them turned on during the school day let a lone have them on them. It’s even worse now that the phones are also MP3 players, cameras, video games, and probably garage openers by now.
The MP3s and iPods are an issue as well. Now, some of them not only play videos but games as well and connect to the internet. It’s bad enough that the kids sometimes don’t get the concept that when the teacher is speaking – whether the regular teacher or the guest teacher – that they are to listen. On top of that, now you have to have them pull out their ear plugs!
It’s worse at the high school level than the middle school level.
I guess I must stay behind the times myself. Even as I approach 29. I went to school during the “pager era” when “everybody” had a beeper but me (and I was moving up in the world by getting my own phone in my own room!). I was the last of my friends to get a cell phone and to this day all I do on said phone is call people and receive calls. My friends now wonder why I don’t return their text messages (probably because I don’t have that feature let alone use it). C’mon, I already have like four ways to get ahold of me – phone, email, instant message, MySpace – why do I need a fifth one?
In this day and age, it is getting crazy out there. And with every new invention, “everybody and their brother” has to get it the day it comes out in stores. No wonder people are constantly broke as technology changes daily and they have to keep on keeping up.

LikeLike

Reply
Russ Rodriguez

January 21, 2009

Louis Pasteur once wrote that “Luck favors the prepared mind.” Sticking to your plan eliminates much of the distraction of noise, because it becomes irrelevant.

LikeLike

Reply
Bob

January 22, 2009

Chris,
As we sat in the Hartford, CT Seminar Saturday, my cell phone didn’t buzz. It was off. Hubby’s did. He ignored it. It went to vioce mail. It was my mother, telling me about a “Star Trek” episode that was on that she thought I’d want to see. (Picture rolling eyes!) She gave us grief the next day for ignoring her calls.
As we sat there at the Hartford, CT Tuesday Open the other night, my cell phone buzzed. (I forgot to turn it off.) I glanced at it, saw it was Mom again, and ignored it. I then turned mine off. Then, hubby’s buzzed. Same source. She left a voice mail on his. Again, she was mad after the meeting because we hadn’t immediately picked up our phones when she was calling about some triviality.
Chris, my mother is 72!! She’s worse than our 23 and 27 year old kids when it comes to demanding our time and attention on the phone! And if we don’t answer her emails she has fits!! And if Mom’s own email isn’t working, it’s like the world is coming to an end. One of us has to drop what we’re doing and immediately rush over to fix whatever she’s messed up this time.
I get a tad annoyed when the icon from my Lotus Notes pops up to tell me I have email when I’m in the middle of working on stuff at work. I almost always grumble a mutter, “What now?” I open it, deal with it and try to get back to the flow of my work. I have to do it that way, because I know if I don’t, I will forget to check it later, and sometimes we deal with time sensitive stuff.
Technology is a useful tool. It helps get stuff done, sometimes. But there are many days when I stop on my break, call up a photo of New York’s Adirondack Forest Preserve wilderness area on my computer, and take a mini-vacation. To a place where there’s no cell phone coverage, no electricity or phones (so no email or calls), and the most common noises heard (besides people having fun and relaxing) are God’s own nature. To complete the picture, I put my headphones into my iPod and listen to my CD of nature sounds. In other words, I feed my soul on peace.

LikeLike

Reply
Jim Gemuend

January 22, 2009

Chris,
When my Son Ross was 12 years old, we were in the car talking when my cell phone rang. I promptly turned it off and resumed my conversation. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, isn’t that rude of you Dad to not take the phone call. I told him that it would be rude of me to take the call. We teach our kids to think of others but not at the expense of relationships. The open Tuesday and this article helped remind me of the importance of communication without noise. Thanks
BiC
Jim

LikeLike

Reply
Rusty Robson

January 22, 2009

I am picturing a scene from history,December 1776, George Washington and his troops are listening intently to someone read Thomas Pain’s “American Crisis” to them as they try to muster up the courage to go and fight the British. “These are the times that try men’s soul’s. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will…ring, ring, ring, vibrate, favorite rap song ring tone…”hello…he said what…you tell him you know what…ok gotta go…sorry, can we start over, I forgot what you just said.” Instead of crossing the Delaware (which is in St. Louis for all intensive purposes), they might have chosen to just stay back and watch their favorite TV programs, or blog surf… speaking of, here’s a new post – http://masteringthecontext.blogspot.com/
or – http://rustyrobson.com/

LikeLike

Reply