My Two Cents: 'Pinning' down students' BlackBerry obsession
Kate Barker
Issue date: 9/22/09 Section: Opinion
Full disclosure: I have not had the best of luck with electronics. The last gaming system my family owned was a Sega Genesis, my last camera got wet and every picture I attempted after that point looked like it was taken underwater, and my most recent phone, a Verizon number that used to befuddle sales representatives ("Uh, when was this model made? Yeah … no … I don't think we carry this charger anymore.") was dropped countless times on a variety of unforgiving surfaces before finally disappearing one afternoon. In my own house.
No, seriously. And they say "The Borrowers" is a fictional piece.
So you might assume I would be the least likely candidate for a BlackBerry, iPhone or any other mobile device in the "smart phone" family. I know I did. The first hurtle was convincing my dad to go for it. I had already tried in the past, and with frighteningly little success.
"A BlackBerry? What do you need a BlackBerry for? Last I checked you're not running any sort of business." He then had an enjoyable moment at the expense of my oldest brother, who in high school campaigned similarly hard for a pager.
Pagers. I'm sure you are familiar: friend to doctors, nurses and other such emergency workers. Not as commonly associated with the needs of 17-year-old boys. Once he played the pager card I was sure my cause was lost, but then by some miracle my 21st birthday, the disappearance of my phone, and "upgrade eligibility" all fell within the confines of one perfect storm-esque month.
And so, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the Verizon store to claim my BlackBerry. I was a done deal, but that didn't stop a persistent salesman from putting me through an hour's worth of tricks. "Download videos onto this and you won't know you aren't watching at home (Hmm, that will be nice for traveling); Internet is as fast as your personal computer (Because really, who has time to stand around all day waiting for Google to show its face?); and it can link up to all of your e-mail accounts. Well, up to eight anyway (I would love to meet the person who has more than eight relevant e-mail accounts up and running right now)."
No, seriously. And they say "The Borrowers" is a fictional piece.
So you might assume I would be the least likely candidate for a BlackBerry, iPhone or any other mobile device in the "smart phone" family. I know I did. The first hurtle was convincing my dad to go for it. I had already tried in the past, and with frighteningly little success.
"A BlackBerry? What do you need a BlackBerry for? Last I checked you're not running any sort of business." He then had an enjoyable moment at the expense of my oldest brother, who in high school campaigned similarly hard for a pager.
Pagers. I'm sure you are familiar: friend to doctors, nurses and other such emergency workers. Not as commonly associated with the needs of 17-year-old boys. Once he played the pager card I was sure my cause was lost, but then by some miracle my 21st birthday, the disappearance of my phone, and "upgrade eligibility" all fell within the confines of one perfect storm-esque month.
And so, a couple of weeks ago, I went to the Verizon store to claim my BlackBerry. I was a done deal, but that didn't stop a persistent salesman from putting me through an hour's worth of tricks. "Download videos onto this and you won't know you aren't watching at home (Hmm, that will be nice for traveling); Internet is as fast as your personal computer (Because really, who has time to stand around all day waiting for Google to show its face?); and it can link up to all of your e-mail accounts. Well, up to eight anyway (I would love to meet the person who has more than eight relevant e-mail accounts up and running right now)."
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