When The Red Light Stopped Flashing

If you are living in the Gulf, Certain parts of Europe and Even India and If you own a BlackBerry then you must have encountered a problem with your device. It was a system problem from the manufacturers and I got assured that today it has been resolved.

The thing that I noticed the most in these 3 days are the reactions of the people on this seemingly small issue. Living in UAE, BlackBerry is almost like a basic necessity and a wonderful tool to be in constant touch with the loved ones excluding the broadcasts in a language that you cannot even understand :P (well that tends to happen if you have arab friends and you have no idea about arabic)

I was always an iPhone person and just got myself a BlackBerry for the heck of it because my friends made it look like its the easiest way to be in touch and It was, Actually. But having said that, it is a curse as well as a blessing to have this device. Blessing because of easily accessible messenger and a curse because it is quite addictive and the red light that flashes every time there's an unread email, notification, sms, or a bbm message is QUITE annoying. Yet, I was surprised when I missed that flashing light for the past 3 days.

Talking to a bunch of friends over lunch the very next day of the problem I was amused at myself and at them, the level to which we have allowed technology to affect our lives. Both my friends attend classes after work in evening and my friend tells me ''O my god, it was sooo annoying I could ACTUALLY focus on the lecture and I understood each and every thing''

Another one chimes in the similar experience ''Throughout the class I opened my BlackBerry and replaced the battery like 20-30 times'' .. And I am no exception even I tried to remove the sim card and put it back and restart my phone like 5 times. On the other hand, Some people ended up spending more time with their families catching up with 'Actual conversations' instead of a conversation where a person constantly checks on their phone while talking to someone else. I personally find it very annoying and try my best not to do it.

And Subhanallah, It also made me wonder about what kind of an impact would it make on the lives of muslims if they opened and checked Quran at least half the times they check their BlackBerries. I know it sounds like a buzz kill. I also know that blackberry has that app but somehow even if we have it on our BB, it is rarely opened unlike the BBM.

Those are just my reflections and thoughts... feel free to comment or to give some input