8 things to do with an old Blackberry

In light of the recent dismal earnings report, the umpteenth delay of their new OS, and the fact that more people are using Facebook Chat than BBM, a new wave of former Blackberry enthusiasts will be collectively chucking their devices in the next few months.

Being a recovering Crackberry addict myself, I have recently decided to trade up. If you’re like me, you have several of these devices lying around. Rather than let these things collect dust, I’ve compiled a list of things to do with your old blackberry.

Before we get to what you should be doing with your old blackberry, I wanted to be clear – this is not an attempt to convert blackberry loyalists. Once upon a time, I too couldn’t live without the tiny, tactile keyboard, or the trackball that was rendered useless after an attempt to use it while eating fried chicken. I, too, longed to stare at the loading clock when doing simple tasks like sending a text message. I know the struggles.

So for those of you who have left Blackberry behind and have moved on to greener pastures, here are a few things you might do with your old devices:

• You can do the noble thing and donate to charity. Most carriers have recycle programs.
• Keep one as a backup in case your current phone suffers an untimely death.
• Smother it in peanut butter, or some other food product of your choice, and let your dog play with it.
• Use it to prop up wobbly furniture. The old curve works great under a table leg or unsteady barstool.
• Use it as a decoy. Inadvertently made eye contact with someone you don’t want to have small talk with? Start “typing an email” on your decoy device.
• Melt it down and fashion it into a cool new belt, or slippers for the homeless
• Gather your friends who also have old blackberries, channel your inner rednecks, and have a skeet shooting party
• Mount it on your computer or somewhere on your desk. The matte black screen is great reflective surface and will let you see if anyone is coming up behind you.

So play one more epic game of brick breaker. Hopefully by the end of this, your old blackberry will have gone the way of the dinosaur….It can’t hurt you anymore.

Author's note If you, or someone you know, is still willingly using a Blackberry as their primary device, they need an intervention.