Sept. 3, 2009 — Here’s an interesting challenge?

How long can you go (not counting during sleep) without checking or communicating with your PDA (personal digital assistant) or cell phone?

For some users, the need to constantly monitor and respond to their cell phones is a hard habit to break. I’ve been in restaurants, Tim Hortons lineups, new variety trials, conference seminars, sports events, movie theatres, and at family events where someone is constantly reading or replying to a text message, or taking a call. Or a "tweet."

I attended a Remembrance Day service a few years ago, and during the solemn Minute’s Silence that asks only that we take a few moments to collectively remember the sacrifices made by so many so many years ago, a cell phone rang out in the hall. Initially, most of us in attendance would have felt sorry for someone who we assumed would have been quite embarrassed as he fumbled to turn off his phone. However, our sentiments soon turned to bewilderment as the person with the phone then proceeded to have a conversation. Unbelievable.

During this year’s Ohio Short Course, moderators constantly reminded delegates to turn off their phones. One moderator said they have a bucket of water at the back of the hall where all ringing phones would be deposited for “safekeeping.” Another said those taking calls would be asked to give $5 to each person seated around them. It was all light-hearted banter, but the message was clear. There’s a time and a place for PDA usage, and a seminar – for which delegates have paid a fair coin – isn’t one of them.

These devices are keen business tools, no doubt. They’re essential during business hours. But even on coffee or lunch breaks? Egads, they’re even used on … golf courses! (Though taking a call while a playing partner is putting for birdie would probably be considered bad form...)

But do you always turn them off during family or leisure activities? Do you take your PDA on vacations? Can you turn them off while on break or at lunch?

A recent Associated Press article addressed the topic of cell phone interruptions and constant monitoring.

“Wednesday nights in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighbourhood offer a solution, Neo: Unplugged. The experience at Neo, the restaurant housed at The Mansion on Peachtree: A Rosewood Hotel and Residence, requires diners to relinquish their phones and PDAs to the maitre’d. The premise is that the very thing that keeps us in constant connection is keeping us disconnected from what is really important: our friends, our significant others, our lives.”

One couple who have been married for some 36 years were quoted as saying the experience has been especially positive. No more calls from family members during their visits to the restaurant. “Her family calls her incessantly,” said the husband. “I wanted to throw their cell phones away.”

The article said the couple “settled for ditching theirs for a few hours and found the other form of PDA – smiling and laughing together, looking into each other’s eyes, holding hands. “We’re just getting to know each other,’’ the husband was quoted as saying. “It’s a remarkable thing.”

So... how long can you go without checking your PDA?