Blackberries are the new cigarettes

for the longest time I thought people with smart-phones were annoying. they seemed to just show off all of the distracting things the phone could do. In my mind, I didn’t need that stuff; I didn’t want to be e-mailed, I don’t want to use the internet on the road, I don’t need to play videogames on my phone. but I think my phone got stolen at the gym. or maybe I just lost it, but it was gone; so I upgraded to the blackberry.

at first I couldn’t get the hang of it, but now I really love it. I still don’t use the internet for anything but e-mail, but it does take great pictures and videos, and it synchs up with my computer so that I have all of my contacts and appointments there in my phone. but the question I’m left with is, “where can you actually USE your blackberry?”

:: you can’t use it in jury duty.

:: you have to silence it at church.

:: meetings have become a no-cell-phone-zone.

:: you can’t have it on in the movie theater.

:: you have to turn it off when you're on an airplane or you could crash the plane.

:: its against the law to use it in your car in california,

:: you get dirty looks if you take a call in a restaurant, elevator or store.

:: I wouldn’t dare pick up that phone in the middle of dinner.

:: if I’m in my office talking with someone, and my blackberry starts buzzing, the person I’m talking with gives me a look like, “are you going to get that? really? you would interrupt your precious time with ME to answer that phone? you wouldn’t dare!” (at least it looks like that…and of course I wouldn't.)

:: and heaven forbid you take a call when you’re out with your kid. people give me looks like I’m a terrible father for taking a call during family-time.

what’s the point of having this awesome phone if you can’t ever use it? I was walking through the church parking lot on sunday, reading the news off of my phone about all of the celebrity deaths lately, and a church member walked by and said, “you look just like a teenager staring at your cell phone!” I can’t even use it walking through a parking lot! sometimes I pull my ringing phone out of my pocket and the people I’m with look at me like I pulled a pack of cigarettes out. their expressions say, “you’re not going to USE that are you?!” and “what’s THAT THING doing here?!”

so where CAN you use a blackberry? and WHEN?!
answer: sitting outside of starbucks with all the smokers.
blackberries have become the new cigarettes.
no one wants to be around them.
they pollute the air.
and they are highly addictive.
and I'm sure that one day we'll discover that they cause cancer.

maybe they’ll start making smart-phone sections in restaurants.
the host will ask, "would you like to be seated in texting or non-texting?"


p.s. you can use your smartphone in the airport too. everyone is talking on their cellphone in the airport!