Are we TOO connected?

I have been wondering recently if we have too many ways to communicate with each other, too many technologies that give us access to email and calls on the go.

With the number of Blackberries passing the 8 million mark in mid-2007 and the global number of mobile phones climbing past 2.7 billion, it is no wonder some of us are feeling 'too connected'.

I was listening to a discussion between some Colleagues last week about the 'phantom vibrate'; the phenomena of feeling your phone vibrate in your pocket even when it hasn't. There was wide-spread agreement, so it seems that it wasn't just me!

Etiquette seems to have gone out of the window too with most Blackberry owners feeling it acceptable to check their email whilst in meetings or whilst out with friends and respond there and then. Do we think you are more important than people in business were 10 years ago? I bet 99% of emails that are answered could have been answered an hour later and the world would not have come to an abrupt end, with just a small white blinking cursor left behind in the black.

One of the problems with these technologies is that we allow them to interrupt our lives whenever a message comes in.

As regular readers will know, I love my technology and I consider myself an early-adoptor. I love convergence and find it amazing what can be squeezed together now (have you seen the MacBook Air???).

But I have now turned my back on convergence for a while. I check my emails regularly, at work and at home, but I have been trying to shut down my connections to the world outside of work hours where possible. I follow the principal that if its that urgent then they will phone.

As a time management tool I have also turned off all Outlook notifications. I no longer get the little beep, the title of the message in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen or the little envelope in the system tray (that never seemed to go away even when I had checked my email!).

It's liberating, Try it.

No longer will you lose your chain of though whilst trying to complete a document or be distracted whilst talking to someone at your desk. It is impolite to allow yourself to be distracted whilst communicating with others and we should avoid it where possible.

Now if only I could cut down the number of emails I get every day.