Relationships with Cell Phones

I am loyal to my Blackberry. I am a writer and I need to feel the keys under my fingers. Because of this, I may not ever gravitate towards a touchscreen mobile device and I am happily willing to sacrifice all the cool applications and better gps that comes with the iPhone and other new mobile phones. And at the end of the day, it is a phone and do not feel the need to have it with me at all times. I often miss calls because of this and am quite comfortable with a vibration setting instead of hearing a ring.


My boyfriend, on the other hand, is developing a seemingly serious relationship with his iPhone. He keeps it on him at all times during the day and continues to be amazed at all of its capabilities. He writes emails from it, even though the formatting and spelling always seems to come out horribly, and insists that he prefers to do things from the iPhone rather than sit in front of the desktop. I don't know what else he does with it, but it seems to be quite a bit. He is a heavy iPhone user.


I admit I enjoy being able to look up answers to questions, find directions and communicate with friends family and coworkers from any location, but I know the difference between improved convenience and the compulsion to be "engaged" at all times. I don't mean to sound like a technophobe, as I am quite the opposite, but doesn't all of this technology take away from our daily lives and the enjoyment of the simple pleasures in life if we are not careful? Why are we becoming addicted?