Steve Talbott’s book “The Future Does not Compute” has me thinking about some subtle changes I am making in regards to technology. I know these will sound trivial, but they are the start of something much larger. After reading about 100 pages of the book I have decided to:
Change I decided to make was to stop getting NeverLost on my rental cars. For those that don’t know, NeverLost is a GPS mapping system that you can get in Hertz Rental Cars. You plug in an address and it will guide you there. It works very well (most of the time) and I have been using it for over a year now whenever I go on the road (at least once a week). It just removed the stress of having to navigate to the places where I have to go while on the road. I just came to the realization last week that it has also atrophied my navigation skills to the point of the absurd. I have not idea how to navigate around the South Bay Area even though I am down there on a regular basis. NeverLost does the “thinking” for me and I end up dependent on it for all direction. The problem is that I end up getting where I wanted to go, but not having any idea how I got there. I miss the journey and therefore the entire point of the trip to begin with – it is not about getting “there” it is about what you learn the process. For example, I now know that 280 N goes almost directly West through most of Cupertino and that Sunnyvale Blvd turns into De Anza Blvd in Cupertino (I mean, would Cupertino really stand for a Sunnyvale Blvd running through its midst?).
Another change is to the ring mode on my BlackBerry email/phone. By default the phone vibrates when a new email or call comes in. It is possible to set up many different “profiles” with different rings based whether the device is in or out of the holster and whether it is an email/vm/phone call that is being received. The change I have made is to add two new profiles: Caleb and Anna. These are the modes I will use when I am hanging out with my Son Caleb (age 8) or daughter Anna (age 4). For Caleb I have set it to not ring or vibrate at all when an email arrives and to ring when a phone call comes in. The reason is that when I am hanging out with Caleb while I am working I don’t want to worry about emails that arrive but I need to answer phone calls that would come in – and he is accepting and aware of that. For Anna it is important that I observe “radio silence” because I don’t want to be distracted by the thing unless I decide to check it – and I don’t want Anna to be awakened to my “scattered self” when I am caring for her.
This might beg the question of why I would have the thing on at all when I am with my children. I do realize it has an off button and I turn it off in the evening after the work hours. But one of the real benefits of the BlackBerry for me is that I can have lunch with my Son in the park or play a game with my daughter or talk with my wife when I am working at home. The BlackBerry makes it possible for me to carry the important part of my office with me so that if I need to check in every 15 minutes I can do so. It also makes it possible for me to step away from my computer even when I am awaiting an important call or email. That is the good part of the device. The negative is that it can distract from my current task and certainly from my being present with my family. So the new ring tones are a conscious effort to counteract that. I will still turn it off when I don’t want to be bothered.
These changes are subtle, but there will be more to come…