Give Up the Blackberry? Obama Will Have to

When Barack Obama moves to the White House, he’ll have to give up his one biggest addiction: the Blackberry. It surely will be one big sacrifice for Obama, who, like most professionals in this day and age, always has a BlackBerry/phone/laptop within arm’s reach.

That will have to change soon. According to the Presidential Records Act, all of the president’s correspondence will be considered official and will be reviewed.

For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

It will be difficult, and I guess that’s just one of the many things you have to sacrifice when you become president, but he’ll live. He’ll get used to it. Before the Internet, what were we?

If it were a life-or-death things and you were asked to give up your online life, would you? I would be happy to go back writing on my notebook, no violent reactions about that. I just don’t know about e-mail. I can imagine how difficult it is not to be able to send off a quick message to a friend.

Read the full-length article: Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? If Obama Has to, Yes He Can.