Which generation are we in, again?

My living is made with information, data, technology. It's how I survive professionally. I have to familiarize myself with new and developing technologies. I seem to have a knack for discovering stuff, in terms of both hardware and software. And I enjoy this, too. I like being able to understand how things work. If I had a mind for it, I'd be in computer science or computer information systems. Unfortunately, I have not the talent for math.

At any rate, I am fascinated, both professionally and personally, by technology. I think Blackberries are wonderful (though I couldn't justify having one myself); PDAs are great, too (again, not enough justification). Laptops make the world go 'round (but I don't have the funds), and those little cell phones that have Internet capability (amongst other things) are just marvelous (if somewhat unnecessary sometimes--mine is very stripped down). You also have things like the Firefly mobile phone for kids.

My point? I am not a Luddite. I love technology. Ideally, it should make our lives easier, and in some cases it has indeed improved the quality of life (medically speaking, primarily).

What boggles me, however, is this sudden dependence on cell phones. Whenever I cross campus, I never fail to get behind people walking painfully slow because they're trying to hold in-depth conversations on their cells (and loudly, with a lot of "What?" and "Huh?"). It never fails that the minute a class is dismissed, you see them flip open their phones, check to see if they have messages, and then start dialing. It's the same with the kids to whomI give the ACT. When the students leave my sessions, it's the same thing. It's as though they can't go more than hour without having one of those damn things attached to their ear. I've seen some students with the hands-free earpieces on campus, too.

Maybe it's because I'm an introvert that this phenomenon confuses me. The idea of talking to somebody that frequently makes me frantic--forget actually engaging in the behavior. And when I see them early in the morning, walking to the cafeteria for breakfast, or on their way to class and they're jabbering away, I'm more flabbergasted. I barely talk to the husband in the morning--forget talking to somebody I'm not related to on the phone.

But these self-same phone-savvy individuals can't properly write a research paper or case study. They can't research for themselves. They don't know how to properly utilize the Internet for research and self-education. Hell, they can't self-educate. They aren't motivated by anything, it seems, except for some instinctual form of status protection, i.e., having the right model phone with the right features and a million numbers saved--half of which they'll never ever dial. (I won't discuss other features of status-protection--like clothing/fashion--now.)

Did I miss something?