While on family vacation in Europe, the SIM card in my Blackberry broke. I have no idea how that could even happen, seeing how it is a chip on a piece of plastic, but it provided an interesting experiment that I would not otherwise have engaged in!
During the first few hours I instinctively (addictedly?) looked at my BlackBerry several times to check for new emails. By Day 2 I was cured of that habit and only looked at my Blackberry when I needed the time (I no longer wear a watch). By Day 3 though I was really starting to miss a number of services, but not necessarily the ones I had expected.
Despite my initial reaction, by Day 3, I did not miss email. In part that’s because I had a vacation responder running and knew that I could take a few days to get back to folks. But it was also because using a laptop and wifi provided an adequate substitute. The same was not true for Google Maps and foursquare. We visited a bunch of fun places that required both navigation (maps) and were worth sharing and remembering (foursquare). The laptop back in the hotel room was not much use for either!
Also to my surprise I missed being able to make calls. Why should that be a surprise? Because voice calls are the last thing I think of when I consider my Blackberry. But it is still a mobile phone and the calls I make turn out to be more important and useful than I realized. Most of them (at least on vacation) have to do with coordination based on sudden changes of plans while out and about.
Aside: I am still in the process of migrating away from my Blackberry to an Android phone but that is a different story.
