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April 29, 2010, 1:38 pm

Blackberry Phenomenon

For years, BlackBerrys have had known uses for business purposes only: Mainly for colleagues to e-mail one another, keep their schedule organized and, of course, to make phone calls. The BlackBerry was and still is ideal for any serious businessperson, such as my mother and father, but it now has become the phone to have among teens.

When you make a new friend or catch up with an old one, they might ask you, “Oh, what’s your number?” Today that phrase is frequently replaced with “Oh, you have a BlackBerry! What’s your PIN?” A PIN is assigned with every BlackBerry and serves as a sort of identity. You distribute your PIN with pride, to your friends, family, coaches and teachers who also own a BlackBerry. Once they accept your request, you become friends and they’re added to your BBM list. On my BBM, I have an array of people I do and don’t talk to. From my field hockey coach and my boyfriend to my best friend, random senior boys and my mom, my BBM list consists of the most random group of people.

One lazy Sunday afternoon, my friends and I were lounging out in the warm almost-summer sun, listening to music and talking. My phone had gone off and I checked it only to see a BBM request from a certain gorgeous senior boy. I announced it to my friends proudly, and they all just smirked and laughed, saying, “He probably just added you to get more contacts!” I could tell they were jealous. Walking to dinner, we had continued our conversation about BlackBerrys and joked about how the students at our school kept the BlackBerry corporation in business.

We walked to the mailroom after dinner to check for any notices, when my friend discovered our history papers had been newly graded and placed in our boxes. I opened mine to see I had received an 82. Feeling confident about my grade, I was about to show my friends when one of them whipped around and shrieked, “95! That’s what I’m talking about!” Damn. I told her she had beaten me and she did a little victory dance, singing, “I am the champion, my friends! Cause I kept on writing, till the end!” Trying to think of a sassy comeback quick, my tongue was tied, and I could feel my face getting redder as more and more people began to come in to check their mail. Suddenly, I blurted out, “YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE RYAN GALLAGHER [alias to protect the innocent] DIDN’T ADD YOU ON BBM!” Silence immediately overcame the mailroom, and my friends blankly stared toward the door. I turned only to see Ryan Gallagher standing in the doorframe, cheeks red from embarrassment. I ducked my head and sprinted out.

BlackBerrys are sweeping the nation, with the help of BBM, of course. BBM is widely known among many and is one of the main reasons it has sold just above its rival, the iPhone. With so many people text messaging, the term shortened to a “text,” and became a verb: “texting.” We are now acquainted with BBM, which has turned into a verb, too: “bbming.” Although bbming is basically the same thing as texting, if you are texting one person and bbming another, one would say, “Well, Tracy texted me and told me Joey asked her out! So I bbmed Carly and told her about it.” The verb “bbming” has become a commonly used word at the boarding school I attend in Rhode Island and very much elsewhere. Attending a boarding school and having a BlackBerry is a very realistic investment.

One particular feature I love about the BlackBerry is the Facebook application. It allows me to upload pictures, write on friends’ walls and inbox-message. This comes in handy, especially with my intelligent yet forgetful boyfriend, whose phone is almost always broken. While on spring break in Cancun, Mexico, I had checked to see if my BlackBerry worked there and, in fact, it did! I had been texting my boyfriend in between security lines, on the runway and so on. After landing in Cancun, I had bbmed him, but it hadn’t shown the symbol that he had read it. It wasn’t even delivered, which told me his phone was either off or it was broken again. I had stuffed my phone into my purse as our long day of beachside activities at the resort began, rarely checking it because I was so busy. After a long swim in the warm ocean, I sprawled out on a beach chair, grabbed my phone and sunscreen, and began to tan. Suddenly, I received a Facebook notification, and it was an inbox message from my boyfriend. He informed me of his broken phone, how much he missed me and how we would arrange a video chat date that night. My BlackBerry never failed me that whole trip, and I am thankful, because even though my boyfriend was without a phone for several days, I was able to keep in touch with him via Facebook mobile and AIM mobile. It’s just another example of how the BlackBerry is an outstanding feat in technology.

The BlackBerry is designed to be almost irresistible to the teenage girl. With numerous applications, BBM being the most important, I can say that it has made my life much easier. It helps me be in touch with my friends nearly every second of the day through texting, BBM, Facebook, AIM, etc. Having been a proud BlackBerry owner for two solid years now, I can honestly say that owning one, businessperson or not, is worth the investment. The BlackBerry phenomenon is not only touching businesspeople but also teens all over the world.

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