BlackBerry Ettiquette

It’s probably the only group on campus that includes the snootiest of city girls and the nerdiest of computer geeks, but it’s especially obnoxious because now it includes everyone in between.

The number of BlackBerries on campus seems to have tripled over the summer, and their hypnotic hold on their users has been ruining conversations for weeks. If you are a BlackBerry addict, please take some advice on how not to be the most annoying person in the room.

I don’t want to use the word “CrackBerry,” because I think it’s stupid, but unfortunately it’s pretty apt. Yes, it’s annoying when you place it on the table when you sit down for a meal. Yes, it’s pretentious when you wonder aloud how anyone could be satisfied with T9 anymore.

“Sent from my Verizon BlackBerry” is not an appropriate closing to an email. Not even if you were able to type it out with one hand while bouncing on a pogo stick between classes and showing off your favorite yo-yo trick.

Thanks, but no, I don’t want to “BBM” you. And if it feels like what it sounds like, I don’t want you doing it to me either. The only pin number I have goes to my bank account, so I’ll be keeping that to myself.

Believe me, I know how important it is to text all of your blockmates about your Emma Watson sighting (okay, that part was serious), but is making that instantaneous reply to your house open list really that big of a deal?

Please, BlackBerry users, remember back to the time when you were happy to play “Snake” on your cheap Nokia. Some of us use our phones primarily to make phone calls, so do us all a favor, and put yours back in your pockets.

—Sent from my AT&T iPhone