The Curse of Availability

My iPhone is both the greatest and worst piece of equipment I’ve ever owned. It’s strange to find a device which is so completely far beyond the majority of the competition. While, a few years ago, most phones were happy with tiny advancements with each new iteration, the iPhone came onto the scene and simply blew the competition away. Now, other than my keys and wallet, I won’t leave home without it. Therein lies the problem…

I’m a bit obsessive — okay, quite obsessive. While a better man may have the ability to simply turn off the push feature on his phone, I can’t. This means that, other than the 5-6 hours a night I sleep, I am always available…always. If Mr. X sends an email to me, I will have received it, and at least glanced at the email within a few moments of him pressing the send button. On one hand, this is fantastic. If my boss emails me with important information, I’ll have it instantly. I’m still undecided as to whether they’re impressed by my quick responses, or disturbed. This also means that I’m continuously updated on life-changing important 140 characters ramblings from my Twitter buddies. On the other hand, I can’t shut down.

Especially in the last month, I’ve begun to ask myself, “Is this a good thing?” More and more, I find myself glancing at my phone during dinner, or quietly reaching into my pocket after my leg starts buzzing in a movie theater. No no… I can’t turn the thing off. Two hours without availability? How could I deal with that? On more than one occasion, my fiancée has given me “the look” – which means, turn – it – off. I suspect that many of the male readers of this blog are quite familiar with this “look.”

I find myself glancing at my phone during dinner, or quietly reaching into my pocket after my leg starts buzzing in a movie theater. No no…I can’t turn the thing off. Two hours without availability? How could I deal with that?

Not Just the Phone

But don’t forget, there’s more than just the iPhone. For some reason, I’ve found it necessary to have a Twitter client on my desktop computer, laptop, and phone. This means that beeps are heard around my entire home at sporadic intervals. Beep…beep…beep. It’s irritating – yet I won’t fix the problem!

I suppose the reason I’m writing this is because I’m beginning to feel the toll from my constant availability disorder. My eyes strain, and more importantly, it’s difficult to turn my brain off. This results in far less sleep than I require. It doesn’t help that I don’t have a specific 9-5 job either. Forum chatter, Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, new project ideas…it all adds up quickly.

My question to you is: do you suffer from this as well? If so, how do you shutdown?