The Blackberry: work-life balance friend or foe?

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It wasn’t that long ago that when the workday was over, it was over. If people needed to reach you in a professional capacity, they simply called during business hours. These days, with Blackberries and iPhones taking over the mobile air waves, the line between work and home is blurring.

Randall Craig is a work-life balance expert, author of Personal Balance Sheet and the President of Pinetree Advisors. He told ILSTV that these devices are tools that can help or hurt your work-life balance.

Randall Craig: If you would have been staying at work until 7:00 or 8:00 at night, every single night, but instead you’re able to be home at 6:00 but check the Blackberry a couple of times, that’s a huge huge win. On the other hand, if you would have gotten home at 6 o’clock at night every night but you’re checking the Blackberry every twenty minutes and ignoring everybody at home, that’s a very bad thing. For me, I run a consulting company; I’m speaking at conferences all across North America. The fact that I’m not physically in my office means that I’m able to have some free time, especially when I’m on the road because I’m able to check stuff in transit. It’s a huge, huge, huge boon. On the other hand, some people are in bed at night with their Blackberry, for hours, just checking emails and that couldn’t be healthy.

It’s all about how you use it and what you’re using it for. I know a lot of people, for example, who go to their children’s soccer or hockey games at times when they never could have if they didn’t have a Blackberry or iPhone. For the kids to see the parents there is a huge thing, and for the parents to see the kids there is a huge thing. If they’ve got to take a time out for three-to-five minutes a couple of times to take a call or an email, well that’s a small price to pay if the alternative was they wouldn’t be there at all.

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