A long, long time ago I used to carry multiple devices around with me. Specifically, I used to carry around two phones. I did this because, essentially, I “had to.” I was told that I needed to carry around a work phone because sometimes people needed to get in touch with me, and letting those people have my personal phone number was not good. I think it’s about keeping personal stuff personal, which is nice, but at the same time I was told that I always had to answer it if it rang. I was on-call, all the time, which was a little tiresome after a little while.
Still, it was nice to help when I could, even if it meant I had to help recover voicemails at eleven PM, or some other ridiculous thing at another, much later, hour.
Having a work phone was never something I gave much thought at the time. It was just the way it went. I had it on me and I answered it when it rang. Beyond that, I was too focused on my personal phone to give it much focus. That changed when the company started letting us use other high-end phones, instead of just making us stick with BlackBerry-branded devices. Once that started happening, I’ll admit that I may have started giving out my work number a lot more, and maybe (just maybe) not only to work-related people.
My favorite “work phone” was the Nokia E62. I know, I know, such a random device. But! It was really nice. It felt great in the hand, and that full QWERTY keyboard was something fantastic, even back then when finding a hardware keyboard wasn’t hard at all. I also loved that it could play music through the Bluetooth-connectivity, which was something that hadn’t yet taken off. It was a great device, and for someone who hadn’t jumped on the Windows Mobile bandwagon yet (I did just before the iPhone launched, and then I jumped right back off), Symbian was a great choice.
I had plenty to choose from back then, and having a device dedicated strictly for work was pretty cool. I think that methodology to using two devices actually helped me quite a bit when I would start carrying two devices later in life, one for only music, and the other my phone proper. Training, maybe. Now, though, I focus on consolidating as much as I possibly can, and having two phones now just doesn’t make any sense to me.
But, I think that’s where a tablet would come in handy the most. Having a tablet specifically for work purposes makes sense, I think. I’m still having trouble fitting a tablet into my life, but it’s something that I’m constantly working on. I don’t need a phone specifically for work, because it just doesn’t make sense to me anymore. However, hauling around a tablet for a quick article makes more sense to me than carrying around my laptop. Though, I’m someone who also wants to publish that article with that same tablet, and so far that’s where the problem lies. (And to think, some people can carry around multiple tablets!)
Maybe one day that will change, but as it stands right now I still can’t shove a tablet into my life, no matter how hard I try.
But, I want to hear from you, Dear Reader. I want to know if you carry a device specifically for work. Is it a phone? Or have you found a use specifically for a tablet for your job? Or are you like me, and you’ve consolidated all your work and play into one device? Let me know!
image via DanHolePond/InfoSyncWorld
