From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

We all knew this was coming. The 8-18 year-old generation is tomorrow’s business leaders. This generation will be 100% connected when they hit the workforce because it’s been a normal way of life all of their lives.

A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that … today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.

How does this compare to your digital life? The technology is here today to retrieve, and have pushed to you, any type or massive amount of information you could imagine. Whether you want to or not, the means to make you more efficient is here in our laptops, smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. Are you taking full advantage of the digital revolution?

Photo credit: waxmerchant

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Dandy Life by Collective Soul.

I’m sitting at Panera Bread taking this photo and blogging with my BlackBerry. I’m surfing the Internet, checking (and answering) email, and virtually connected to my computer back at the office through my laptop.

I’m productive, right?

Then I see a guy like the one in the photo below. He’s about my age and is working in his DayPlanner. He’s actually working. Writing. Come on. Really? How much writing are you doing (wasting) that you can’t electronically sync with your smartphone, your computer, your laptop and your company’s information management systems?

Are there really still many people like this (under 55) in the world?

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Below is a picture of my laptop and coffee hanging out at Panera Bread in Pembroke in Virginia Beach yesterday. Between the weekly Coffee with the CEO sessions, the coffee and lunch meetings, the many virtual work sessions at local coffee shops, and various social media networking events, my laptop sees an estimated 500 fresh pairs of eyes per week. That’s over 2,100 people seeing the stickers on my laptop per month and 26,000 people per year being exposed to my brand.

What is that kind of exposure worth to your company? We’re talking creative advertising at its finest. Let’s talk.

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to White Flag by Dido.

Okay, I didn’t mean that as harsh as it sounded. But my life is digital. My family knows that. My friends know that. Most everything I do in my professional and personal life is captured in some way on some media platform.

I tweet my work. I tweet about meetings. I tweet about clients. I blog on several different blogs. I take photos like crazy with my BlackBerry and immediately email them to TwitPic which autoposts to Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook. I take videos with my BlackBerry and live stream them to Qik which autoposts to Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook. I tweet about my wonderful family. I tweet while on vacation. Heck, I even tweet while at Major League Baseball games.

I am digital. I am live. Hear me roar.
I get questions all the time about taking a break from being digital. And I always answer with the same response - “why?” I enjoy being digital. There’s no stress for me to being digital. I don’t need that break that some people might. In all actuality, I’m a bit uncomfortable not being readily connected.

Let me clarify a bit for you on what I mean by being “digital”. I don’t mean just having access to my social media channels, although they are important to me. My BlackBerry and notebook give me a safe place to write my thoughts, for my blog and for private. They give me quick access to my huge music library which is a great stress reliever for me. They give me a way to collect and view my vast photo and video libraries. They provide me a way to quickly Skype (audio or video) call with my Nicole or my daughters or my Mother.

So you see, being digital is not a burden to me at all. Being digital is my way of life that provides me the most efficient, profitable and comfortable way to manage my time, my daily tasks and my stress.

Besides, I love my job. My job is my life. My family and friends are my life. And my life is digital. So why would I want to change that?!

No need for those expensive satellite feeds anymore, I’m guessing. When you have a story to report just whip out the laptop, throw in the air card from your favorite ISP, and pop open a Skype video connection back to the office / television station.

I snapped this photograph real quick tonight with the BlackBerry while watching the 11:00 PM news on television on WTKR TV 3 in Hampton Roads (VA).

Good for WTKR! Very resourceful reporting from Mexico.

This weekend we were having issues with the wireless network at home. I think maybe the issue is the lack-of-strength reception from the airport card in the iBook but regardless we had a need to get the machine online while sitting at the dining room table.

Every Windows laptop I’ve had I’ve been able to tether my Pearl to it to use as a modem for the machine. But I hadn’t tried it with a Mac notebook.

I quickly searched (not Googled, Yahoo!’d) for “tether BlackBerry Pearl to iBook” and found Dave Taylor’s article titled “How do I use my Blackberry Pearl as a bluetooth modem with a Mac?” Perfect!

Thanks to Dave, I had the iBook online via the Pearl inside of 4 minutes. No issues. No problems following his instructions. No performance malfunctions through T-mobile. The iBook is online now when I need it.

Thanks RIM. As if this needed to be said, I fell in love with you all over again. BlackBerry is the perfect user device for any smartphone person.