Timothy Berry said owning a smart phone has changed his life.Berry, psychology and sociology senior, is one of many University students adapting to life with a smart phone on campus.A smart phone is a cell phone with advanced features, such as Internet access and e-mail capabilities.”What I like about it the most is being able to set up my appointments in it and the alarm system and stuff like that,” said Berry, who owns a Samsung BlackJack II. “It really changed my life basically.”Berry said his smart phone becomes more of a necessity the longer he owns it.”It’s basically one of the things that I use on a day-to-day basis that has become a part of my life,” Berry said.James Honeycutt, communication studies professor, said he thinks about three students in his summer class of 30 own smart phones.He said cell phones are a necessity, but smart phones are still a luxury to most consumers given the difficult economic times.”It could be seen as maybe a necessity, only time will tell. Maybe in a couple of years,” Honeycutt said. “If the economy swings up, then it’ll go from being more of a luxury to a necessity.”Honeycutt owns a new iPhone 3GS, which he has had for about a week. He said the features he likes about his iPhone are e-mails, reading the news and the ability to zoom in and out on screen.One feature he also touted is the GPS, which he says is a less popular, but “critical,” application.”Let’s say you’re in New Orleans and you get lost,” Honeycutt said. “That fear of crime can be alleviated because of the GPS. It could actually enhance maybe the idea of psychological security with that.”Danny Tran, biological sciences junior, has owned the AT&T Tilt smart phone for about a year.Tran said he has grown “pretty dependent” on his smart phone because he can use it in place of a computer for certain tasks.”It’s made my life easier because there’s Internet on it, so whenever I want to look up show times or something to a movie, I can just pull out my phone,” Tran said.Malorie Holmes, marketing junior, has an iPhone she got as a Christmas gift last December. She said she isn’t as attached to her phone as Berry or Tran, but she said it has made her life easier.Holmes said the only thing she doesn’t like about her iPhone is she hasn’t been able to get multimedia messages.”Apparently with the new software, you’re supposed to be able to, but I just haven’t figured that out,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a necessity. It’s definitely a luxury. I could live without it. I’m not that dependent on it. It’s definitely just convenient.”Chloe Seydel, an incoming freshman and Samsung Behold owner, primarily uses her smart phone for entertainment.”There’s so much I can do on it,” she said. “I love having music on my phone. I never thought I would need it. But now that I have it, I couldn’t live without it.”But while Seydel enjoys her phone’s features, she said her life hasn’t been changed because of it.”There’s definitely stuff I don’t use. I never use Bluetooth. I barely even know what that is,” Seydel said. “It’s just a phone. You make calls on it.”Honeycutt said some people consider a smart phone more of a toy than a requirement.He said stereotypes about media usage have led people to believe smart phone users can become addicted to their device.Dan Burgin, mechanical engineering freshman, is a smart phone user who doesn’t find his BlackBerry Curve indispensable.”Some of the features I don’t use,” Burgin said. “Just having a cell phone is more of a necessity … I mean, it’s nice to have, but I wouldn’t say I need a smart phone.”Honeycutt said many people today are intrigued by smart phones because of the technological generation in which we live.”Human beings adapt,” he said. “Throughout evolution, there’s been adaptability. And so now we’re adapting to technology.”—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]