YOUTH MATTERS Jess Pilkington...I admit it '“ I just couldn't resist the lure of the Blackberry

I discovered, by chance, that shaking it furiously from side to side miraculously gained a few bars of signal, just enough for me to send the odd text before the signal would die again. My patience with the ‘brick’ was slowly dwindling and I soon realised the phone hunting must commence.

One Saturday I decided I was going to purchase my new phone, it was now or never. I hadn’t actually decided what model to get, I just knew enough was enough. It was about time the odd looks from passers-by in the street stopped, I suppose in a way I wanted to blend back into the norm.

For months I had been adamant I didn’t want a Blackberry, as they were just too common among teenagers.

But guess what I came out that shop clutching? Yes, a Blackberry. I think I was drawn to the idea of ‘bbm’ or Blackberry Messenger and the memories of how good ‘buttons’ felt compared with a touch screen.

In reality though, I only talk to one contact on ‘bbm’ and I’ve not yet discovered what the difference between ‘bbm’ and texting is. To be honest I’m not sure anyone knows.

The qwerty keyboard is useful and a lot quicker for typing long texts or emails, however for certain characters you need to use two hands, which becomes impractical when you’re shopping with one arm loaded with bags. Whereas before I could easily tap away with just my thumb alone.

Even after a couple of months of owning my Blackberry I still haven’t grasped the basic understanding of ‘apps’.

Just the other day my friend caught me using the bog standard internet to browse Facebook. “What are you doing?!” she asked, a tone of panic in her voice. She then proceeded to download the Facebook app for me...

You may call me old-fashioned, but I would prefer to follow my own trend, however I was sucked into the elite group of Blackberry owners with false advertising and false impressions.

On the plus side, at least now I don’t have to hide my retro Nokia 3310 replacement phone to disguise my embarrassment.