Guangqumenwai Avenue (广渠门外大街) - 8th Jan 2008. -4C, Sunday, 30 December 2007. It was windy with harsh Mongolian winds blowing against my face as I made my way to the nearest Carrefour for my weekend groceries shopping. However, I had another agenda. I was on my way to get a 'mouse' for an experiment which I've been longing to work on since I lost my cell phone mid of last year.

(Coincidentally, in a couple of weeks, Chinese from all around the world will be welcoming the year of the rat! Nice timing for my 'mouse experiment')

You see. I bought this cell phone back in 2006, accompanied with a pair of the then latest Bluetooth headphones. Seven months later, I lost the phone to a thief at a subway in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. That very same day, I spent 5 hours torturing the minds of two young handsome and super patient cell phone dealers; deciding in between getting the same phone versus every other models.

My purchasing criteria which drove the dealers nuts were:

1. The phone exterior must be white in color
2. Must have Bluetooth
3. Must be compatible with my Bluetooth headphones
4. Must have expandable memory slot
5. Must not run SD cards
6. Must be at least 3.5G
7. Must have a wide-screen
8. And of course, must have a camera of not less than 2.0MP

I remember them mumbling to me on how crazy I was in Cantonese. It was hilarious.

Anyway. Errr... I ended up buying the same phone. Now let's move to the experiment, shall we!

The experiment with mr. Mouse
Location: Chaoyang, Beijing
Time: 1500hrs, 30 December 2007

Like preparing a proposal, I listed down a list of questions which I needed answered:

1) Will I be able to live without my 8-criteria cell phone?
2) Why was I too dependent on my 8-criteria cell phone?
3) What can I do to change this OCD habit?

Only after that then I went out hunting for mr. Mouse. After 75 minutes of selecting the right 'mouse', I ended up buying a simple cell phone at a discounted price at the electronics shop next to Carrefour. It was really simple:

• Black color phone (this wasn't part of the experiment, any color would do)
  
• Small-color screen, rather pixelated (they don't sell 'yellow' screens anymore)
• Infrared
• Radio
• No music
• No USB port
• No memory slots
  
• No camera
• No Bluetooth

Satisfied with my catch in the trap, I headed home and plugged mr. Mouse in the socket and let it charge for the next 12 hours.

1700hrs

5...7...11..10...hours had gone by. I was twiddling my thumbs even while watching Al Pacino in 88 Minutes. I couldn't concentrate. I was so excited about mr. Mouse and the fact that I was so glad that I finally bought a device which allowed me to be able to live like how my parents lived theirs when they were in their mid-twenties - just that they had no cell phones and depended on big black telephones and snail mail. Well, fine - I just needed to prove to myself that I'm not addicted nor too dependent on my 'happening' white cell phone.

While waiting, I did my weekly household chores, wiped .15mm thick dust everywhere (very common in Beijing), surfed the net, watched Criminal Minds, popped sodas in between.

I actually set my alarm at 5am so that I can wake up and switch to my new cell phone. Talk about OCD? I'm kidding. Yes I did wake up but only to unplug the mr. Mouse - and went back to sleep. 

Next morning. Monday. New Year's Eve. An early start to my resolution for 2008 hey.

Time: 0930hrs, 31 December 2007
The real experiment begins.

So, aside from switching cell phones, I was also switching brands. It wasn't as bad as trying to start writing with my left hand (I'm right-handed). However, the features and keystrokes to get from Point A to Point B left me perplexed, but I was fine. No one called me, so I called cousin back home to tell her about my mouse experiment. she said "you wouldn't last a minute." Thanks for the encouragement, Steph.

Text messages started flowing in, and in between constant frustrations, I managed to reply text messages within speeds that's slightly way below my usual par. I managed, I coped. mr. Mouse was still alive and kicking.

Then things between mr. Mouse and I began to turn sour.

1545hrs.

I couldn't trace a missed call. I felt so lost walking to the subway listening to the only English radio in Beijing (that I know of) with so many ads in Chinese which I didn't quite understand. I had to watch the 'handsfree-wire' while doing every other thing - carefully reaching into my pocket for my lipbalm so that it doesn't get 'ripped-off' from mr. Mouse's torso.

I also had to pull mr. Mouse out of my pocket in order to adjust the radio's volume. The screen's display was so 'pixelated' my eyes got teary trying to send and reply text messages. I don't get to listen to Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive whenever some body calls, let alone my usual mp3s. Whenever my cell phone rang, I get stingy looks from certain hip, young-looking Chinese couples because to them the music was either 'unbearable' or 'odd' (odd as in, 'old-school polyphonic' perhaps?).

It was either the 6th or 7th hour since mr. Mouse and I began seeing each other. I felt digitally-challenged the whole day, and it was seriously driving me up against the wall. "Come on, this can't be happening!" I gasped to myself. I was hoping that this experiment might last a couple of months, at least. Right, wishful thinking...

I started imagining how would those drivers in LA or NYC survive if their GPS system was replaced with a 70s am/pm radio and a map in their hands? Of course not everyone's a Jason Bourne. Would be cool if we could navigate around having Bourne's capabilities after a stint at Treadstone, though.

Whether it's coincidence or the fact that my star sign decided to send friendly signals to my Sagittarius cousin, she texted me the same day telling me that the joystick on her Cell 1.0 phone gave way and she can't receive nor answer calls; but she can still send text messages when the 'joystick' is 'in the mood'.

(For your kind information, my cousin is one of the many endangered species that has been surviving with a cell phone (with a 1.3MP camera, that's it) that has a broken screen. The colors' burst and she can't really see much (probably 35%'s visible) on the phone. But she can't live without her iPod though. If you're interested to see what her Cell 1.0's like, drop me an email and I'll be more than happy to send you a photo of the phone)

2330hrs. I broke the news to mr. Mouse, telling him we were experiencing irreconcilable digital differences and that I couldn't live with his digital incapabilities anymore. I didn't like the way he asked me to answer my call, I didn't like the way he was programmed which slowed me down whenever I had to send text messages swiftly and I didn't like the fact that he can't multitask.

I pulled the plug and that's it, it's so over.

14 hours - that's how long I lasted on a simple cell phone with minimal functionalities. What a defeat! I immediately texted my cousin.

"u knw what, u can hav da stupid phone. just hang in there for 5 more weeks and I'll pass it to u when I see u"

"told u u wldnt last a min"

"hey at least i'm making good use of the phone nw by not wasting it by giving it to ppl like u LOL"

"how sincere of u..." 

Here are the answers to my experiment:

1) Will I be able to live without my 8-criteria cell phone?
    Apparently no. Not at all.

2) Why was I too dependent on my 8-criteria cell phone?
    Because I've grown used to it and I thought I could change for the sake of it. But I couldn't.

3) What can I do to change this OCD habit?
    I don't intend to anymore.

Toward the end of my 'mr. Mouse experiment', I've taught myself an invaluable lesson and this continues to apply to my professional life. Sheryl Crow sang "A Change Would Do You Good" back in 1996. In 1996 I remember spending after-school hours on MIRC, ICQ, and playing pool on Yahoo! Games (which I still do). So now it's 2008. What is there to adjust to in 2008? Do a search on "social media+2008" or "social networking+2008" and you will know what I mean.

What are our old habits and what can we do in order to help our clients achieve desirable, measurable results? 2008 to me is all about picking up heavier knowledge that you can no longer identify only with your clients - you need to be able to identify your knowledge with the endusers that are scattered in various age groups. we need to become one of them. Reading up on Facebook alone isn't good enough - you need to use it. Reading up on competitors isn't good enough, you still need to experience it.

When things call for a change,  

Can we say, "I don't intend to, anymore"? Of course not.
can we say, "Because I've grown used to it and I thought I could..."? Of course not.

It's no longer as simple as switching brands and functionalities. 

I thought I could adjust to mr. Mouse without preparing myself well - I thought it's quite a simple switch because it's so basic - it's about communication. How hard can communication get?

Well, as many industries have come to learn over the years, it is and it still is conversation - and the conversation pool in this industry is getting, well - indescribable; and we need to identify with it fast(er) and make the best out of it.

Happy New Year!

Updates: I just read this article titled "Top 10 Trends in Social Media and Business for 2008" on Response Source and found it pretty insightful. I liked the part when he challenges news credibility - opinion vs. facts.

2008's definitely going to be a very interesting year - and I am so watching out for the Chinese market since Beijing's hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. - 9th Jan 2008