The CrackBerry Solution

February 15, 2008

by Lauren Mazel

Look around any large lecture and you can watch most of the computer-wielding “notetakers” in the room doing anything but taking notes while a professor talks. On the rare days that one can actually connect to the ever-elusive “tuftswireless,” many use class time to get their e-mailing done, chat online with friends, and update their Facebook statuses (“so-and-so is sooooooooooooo bored in class”). Proud members of what is sometimes referred to as Generation M (Generation Millennium or Multitask) aren’t surprised by this constant connection. Most of us have been raised on the Internet and cell phones. However, our increasingly wireless world may be reaching a whole new level with the rising popularity of BlackBerrys, iPhones, and other PDAs among college students.

PDAs (personal digital assistants), like BlackBerrys, now include features such as media players, cameras, video recording, web browsers, e-mail, phone, instant messaging, calendars, memo pads, to-do lists, address books, satellite maps, and, of course, automatic notifications from Facebook. With all these features, BlackBerry advertises that an owner “can share [their] pictures right after [he or she] takes them.” As if pictures from parties didn’t get uploaded fast enough, now they can be uploaded and tagged while the party is still going on. Armed with reduced prices and the promise of turning the user into a hip, young professional, BlackBerry has recently launched a new advertising campaign aimed at college students. Their organizational power is undeniable, but do such devices offer more distractions than they’re worth?

For many freshmen students, transitioning to college can be difficult. We’re suddenly independent, which can have both its benefits and drawbacks (no parents to enforce an 11:00 curfew, but few TEMS officers will rub your back when you go past your limits). These changes can be overwhelming and are magnified by the fact that you just met all your friends a few months ago. In this time of social awkwardness and forever parroted “What’s your name? Where are you from?,” it can be tempting to avoid the challenges of forging new relationships in favor of the comfort of old ones now scattered across the country. With cell phones, text messaging, and the Internet, staying in touch is easier than ever. However, with all the communicative powers that the BlackBerry offers, one can now talk to their friends from home all the time. Hypothetically, you could be carrying on a conversation over a famous Dewick Belgian waffle with your floormates, while instant messaging five friends from home at the same time. With all the features BlackBerry has to offer, you can do it all — make new friends and keep the old. But can one little $300 device really give you social superpowers?

Many device users may be surprised to discover that the human brain cannot actually “multitask.” Our brains can’t actually process multiple activities at once (at least not non-habitual activities — walking and chewing gum is very different than trying to IM with three different friends while taking notes in psychology class). While we think it makes us more productive to do many things at once, we actually aren’t. According to Jordan Grafman, head of the cognitive neuroscience department at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, what we think of as multi-tasking is really just “sequential processing.” The brain can’t do two things at once, so it switches back and forth quickly between the two. Because of this, we only skim the surface of both tasks, resulting in decreased efficiency and accuracy. When we do two things at once, it takes longer than if we just concentrated fully on each one after the other and we perform at a reduced level. Generation M has been raised to believe that they have special powers of technology from living in a fast-paced world, but they are actually no more skilled at so-called “multi-tasking” than anyone else or any previous generations. Professor James Ennis of the Tufts University Department of Sociology says that, unfortunately, “paying attention is a lost art.”

With the rise of the BlackBerry and other PDAs, we are no longer just paying less attention to schoolwork, but to our relationships. While the amount of time one might spend thinking about one’s social life often increases with these products, the quality of relationships suffers. It’s hard to really listen to your roommate confide in you about her latest crush while your best friend from home is instant messaging you about the same thing. Beyond that, you’re sending the message to whomever you’re with that they aren’t deserving of your full attention, which probably isn’t the best impression to give. Though not everyone with a BlackBerry will fall prey to its temptations, many are sucked into relationship limbo — they aren’t really living their lives as they unsuccessfully attempt to balance virtual and real-life worlds.

The inability to balance these two worlds is not limited to college students. Since the early days of the BlackBerry, when it was used almost exclusively by corporate executives, its addictive powers have been obvious. Compulsive use among early users led the device to be aptly nicknamed “CrackBerry.” In Canada, the birthplace of the PDA, the Citizenship and Immigration Department has forbidden its employees from using their BlackBerrys over the weekend in an effort to maintain the line between work and life. Increased communication and the wide proliferation of technology in today’s world has led to increasing pressures to get large amounts of work done in small amounts of time, which often forces people to sacrifice their own time to working at home via BlackBerry. However, among college students, who seem to primarily use these devices for social interactions, their use becomes an integrated part of life, almost indistinguishable from face-to-face interactions.

Professor Ennis compares society today to the hive mind of Borg from Star Trek. This race of alien utilizes a hive mind, or collective consciousness, to communicate and share ideas. In many ways, the Internet, cell phones, and PDAs have created somewhat of a hive mind. Just a few weeks ago, when Heath Ledger passed away, it seemed as though the entire campus knew within 20 minutes of the news release. In fact, most of the general public heard the news before the mother of Ledger’s child, Michelle Williams, had been notified. News travels virally because everyone is so connected.

Overall, the rise of the BlackBerry is just another sign of the increased connectedness of the world today. It is hard to say yet whether or not it will overtake computers and phones as our primary communication method. It is, however, further evidence that people are living their lives virtually as well as in actuality, not just as real life punctuated by periods of Internet usage.