Do you have a Blackberry? Does it put you under pressure to be on call constantly or is it a useful tool to stay of top of work?

[Kbear]

What do we think? I've been offered one by work "to make my life easier" but is it a ruse to make you feel you can't switch off from work?

they are an obsessive addiction my cousin and brother got one and I saw what it did to them and said NO!!! lol

dp has one. i hate it. when we went on holiday i made him change the sim card into a normal phone. ha .

They are the devils invention

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCS ACCEPT ONE

so it will escalate from reading emails on the train to get a heads up before the working day then right?

Does it have internet access...... (I'm a bit thick, I don;t know about these blueberry things!)

It is just that I have to spend the first 30 mins to an hour every day catching up with emails before I can crack on with stuff so thought it might be easier to get up to speed (as they say) earlier in the day.

I'm sensing NO is the answer!!!

Ooh yeah, can you MN from a blackberry?

One of my friends works part-time, some of the time from home and she loves her Blackberry. It means she can come out to the park on a sunny day with her ds and nobody at work realises that she's not at home working away. (She makes up the time later in the day/week obviously.) When she's not working she turns it off/ignores emails.

I have one, and it does make my life and awful lot easier. I can check that nothing nasty is happening out of my timezone (a lot of the work is in the US)that'll bite me if left till the morning, can use time in motorway services/ early for appointments/in taxis/airport or whereever to do email, and just generally keep on top of things.
My colleague who works 3 days a week finds it great as she can have a quick scan on her non working days to make sure that no one has sent her anything looking for a fast answer.

Some people can't leave them alone, but thats just the people they are.

I have one for work and use it constantly - I check it when I am packing ds' lunchbox, or last thing at night, while dh goes up to bed, and when I am out with friends, etc... But I am a head of comms for a large company and am basically on call 24/7 anyway.

Unless you need to be on call all the time, don't do it. It can be very addictive and people come to expect you to be there.

I am part-time and do work from home too so I think it could maybe be useful and but am undecided.

hi bran, how's your boy? Growing up fast I expect.

My bosses have them - one never uses it, one is constantly on it but she is more control freaky!! In a lovely way!!

Hi Kbear, he's fab thanks, growing faster than a weed (5cm between end Nov and end Feb , fortunately I'd bought his winter trousers long enough to need turn-ups). How are your two?

DH has had one for yonks and with a few ground rules I think they have a place - even on holidays.

For DH it means at w/e and evenings -
he doesn't have to keep checking pc
gets less calls

on holiday -
We establish rules like he's only allowed to check it once a day, usually early evening when it doesn't effect anyone else's holiday
and it means he doesn't get as many calls whilst we're away

So whilst there are times I threaten to chuck it out the window or in a lake I think they probably have a place (but needs a lot of self discipline (which I provide for DH ) for it not to get irritating.

I have one and I LOVE it!!! But I am freelance and it allows me the freedom of being away from my computer, it means that I can go for a coffee without worrying about missing a vital email.
I think it works very well if you are freelance and self employed but I can see how it might be like a chain to your desk if you work for someone else.

Think Maldives, honeymoon and work still finding dh. I loath the contraption with a passion.

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dh has one

he seems to think that it means he has to read his emails 5 times a day regardless of what else we are doing

I hate it

it stays at home when we go on holiday Or There Will Be Trouble

DON'T TAKE IT!!!

dp has one. before he got it I said don't have one, it'll mean you're always contactable and you'll want to be checking e-mails weekends/evenings.
no, no he said. I'll switch it off.

pah, switch it off????? I have endured him having conversations with a work colleague when:
we were on our way to holiday
driving around a place I didn;t know where he was supposed to be giving me directions (on holiday again)
while I was IN LABOUR

he checks his e-mails CONSTANTLY. It drives me mad. I have threatened to throw it away I don't know how many times.
the problem is that he is super-busy at work, and he worries about going in on Mondays as he knows he'll have a pile of work. So, I can totally see why he wants to get easy e-mails dealt with when he has a chance- but it's crappy for the rest of the family

tigerbollyknickers I have tried to make sure we are on holiday somewhere with no mobile signal this time pmsl
failing that I will be hiding it

It enabled me to negotiate a 4 day week and a load of extra holidays - just by agreeing to check in once a day in case anything urgent comes up that needs me to deal with it!

So I am rather fond of it

I also love coming back from a holiday knowing exactly what has been going on and not having that sinking feeling when looking through loads of emails wondering whether any balls hit the ground in the absence of my juggling skills

useful tool. I can be away from my desk and literally anywhere but still able to fulfil my contract.

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ahhh so you see, people who have them love them
families of those who have them hate them lol