(Column) - Ever since the patent litigation has settled between NTP and RIM, Blackberry has recaptured the headlines, but this time, it’s because of the device itself. While numerous users, generally corporate executives, adore the device, the environment surrounding Blackberry isn’t too positive. A number of recent reports and columns are portraying Blackberry (and similar solutions) as time wasting, productivity lowering behemoths that don’t deserve to exist.

Anyone serious enough to own the Blackberry as a productivity tool, and not a gadget, should realize that productivity can only last for so long. Merely typing hurriedly every free minute they get is displaying pure idiocy.

The feeling surrounding the melodrama comes from infuriated family members and bystanders who regularly observe and patiently deal with those busy enough to utilize the Blackberry. Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated. So who faces the wrath from these normal people? Research In Motion’s Blackberry, of course!

As mentioned earlier, if someone is willing to spend every free moment on the Blackberry, there is an apparent lack of better time management techniques. Any productivity tool should be used wisely. Such a tool is supposed to increase productivity, not decrease it, or make the user’s life wildly busy. The comments I hear more than occasionally are correct in part. No one (though a select few professions dribble fairly close) could be that busy to always be on call (e-mail call that is).

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