Has your smartphone done this to you?

Good morning, mobile-me

It’s 9 a.m. and NYU journalism student Devin Chanda rolls over to grab his Blackberry after three hours of sleep. He’s writing a concert review for Clutch, a rap magazine, so he opens up the phone’s built-in memo pad and quickly taps out a review of last night’s—good music, flowing lyrics, free booze. Still on his phone, he attaches the pictures his photographer sent him at 6 a.m., sends an email to his editor, and goes back to sleep.

“Without my Blackberry, I would be completely lost,” he said. “Communication is the most important thing. I have to stay connected all the time.”

Chanda, whose phone never leaves his side, reflects the rising Smartphone culture among generation Y. With the Blackberry and the iPhone, this “anytime, anywhere” access has become a mantra by which gen Y lives. Not only does it ensure that every text and email goes through, but it also offers applications that lets users read the news on the go, log on to AIM in class, and calculate a tip at the end of dinner. This obsession with Smartphones has prompted criticism that begs the question: Is Gen Y too dependent on technology?

Too obsessed? Too dependant? Too consumed?

Technology can be a good thing, according to C.J. Pascoe, a sociology professor at Colorado College, and co-author of “Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media.” “Most [Gen Yers] use online and mobile networks to extend the friendships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, sports, and other activities,” she said. “The ‘always on’ digital world is creating new opportunities for youth to grapple with social norms, explore interests, and experiment with new forms of self-expression.”

David Suen, an NYU junior, depends on his iPhone to keep him busy.  “I’ve started to use my iPhone as a computer, especially if I’m on the move,” he said. “When I’m in an elevator, I can flip through my New York Times reader and scan an article. What else would I be doing in that time? It would just be empty time.” Suen’s favorite iPhone apps include the Facebook app, the tip calculator, and Mint.com, a money-manager that tells him his budget and monitors his spending. 

However, Suen does have moments where he dislikes this instant technology, which makes it too easy to communicate with multiple people at a time. He is particularly bothered by friends who spend their coffee dates texting. “It’s kind of a social degeneration, because people you’re with are not always there,” he said.

Information overload

As Gen Y grows accustomed to steady access to so much information, its members become more restless and easily distracted, as everything moves at such a fast pace. “In some ways it gives us a less soulful existence,” said Liz Funk, a Gen Yer, public speaker and author of “Supergirls Speak Out.” “I think that the extent to which young people use technology stresses them out and brings them further away from themselves.”

Aware of this potential problem, Stephanie Covell, a 19-year-old art history student at NYU, believes in the old-fashioned way of doing things. She doesn’t have Internet in her apartment, and uses neither Facebook nor Instant Messenger. But when she lost her regular flip phone this summer, she “caved” and bought an iPhone.

Although Covell admits she feels like a hypocrite, she takes pride in limiting the number of applications on her iPhone. There are more than 85,000 iPhone applications, but the only two in which Covell indulges are Hopstop, a subway Mapquest, and Pandora, an internet radio service.

Funk, a college student as well as a professional writer and speaker, looks at her Blackberry as an accessory rather than an amenity. “I try to keep it in my office, and not bring it in my bedroom. It’s really easy to feel like I’m ‘on call’ when I have my Blackberry, but I’m a writer–not a surgeon–and I keep having to remind myself that things can wait while I’m at the movies or out to dinner.”

Although Funk is strong-willed enough to disconnect herself, many Gen Yers become obsessed with the Blackberry and iPhone magic, which gives them the power to do everything by simply tapping their fingers. This inability to detach is one reason that those who oppose Smartphones feel that so much technology can be negative.

“I know some people that don’t know how to check back into reality and have a conversation without their Blackberry in their hand,” said Jonathan Katz, a 21-year-old communications major at the University of Wisconsin. “That’s when I have issue with the phones and how it consumes our interactions.”

Here to stay

Despite these concern, the use of Smartphones is likely to grow. According to a March 2009 In-stat press release, Smartphones will double their market share to a 20 percent annual increase over the next five years. One-third of survey respondents planned on upgrading to a Smartphone next time they purchase a phone. 

 “I’m going to wait for a specific reason that I need a Smartphone, but I know that eventually I will get one,” said Katz. “If not for when I go abroad next semester, then probably when I start working. But when I do, I’m going to make sure I don’t get consumed by it.”