Are you sick of seeing people on their BlackBerrys??? Writing emails with their thumbs all day and all night… even during meetings or while they’re having lunch with you?

Companies and individuals are trying to do something about it by having Blackouts… periods of times during which you have to turn off the device.

If you’ve ever had a service outage, you may feel lost and alone without service to your BlackBerry. This suggested voluntary blackout may feel much the same way. But experts say this may be necessary in order for employees to get their lives back. What’s so wrong with turning off the device on nights and weekends? Isn’t that the way work used to be?

Back in the day, we weren’t accessible at all hours of the day and night, and I think that created a good barrier between work time and personal time. Now it seems that workers are on call 24/7 whether they like it or not, thanks to cell phones and portable email devices. Is it really fair to your family to be constantly distracted by these devices?

If nothing else, people should turn off their BlackBerrys during meetings and lunches. There is nothing more disrespectful than being in the middle of a conversation and having the other person pull out their BlackBerry to respond to an email. Imagine sitting there talking to someone who has their head down and their thumbs flying furiously across a mini-keyboard. It’s annoying and it’s rude.

It’s time that we find a balance with these devices that are supposed to increase productivity. This idea that we should be working and producing at all costs (no matter if it interrupts time with family or even just disrupts quiet time alone)… may actually be reducing productivity. We’ve lost focus on the task at hand, whether it is for work or for fun. Take a break from the BlackBerry. (Or as some call it… the CrackBerry.)