“It almost seems like it’s required to keep up with everything going on now,” Cunningham said. “Just because I’m on my phone all the time doesn’t mean I like it.”

Western psychology professor Deborah Forgays is currently conducting a study with her colleague, Ira Hyman, on the demographics and habits of cellphone users.

The study will address topics such as gender and age differences in length and frequency of cellphone use, as well as expectations in response time for text messages, Forgays said.

“One of the questions is, ‘if you know the person is available, how long before you get irritated that they have not answered your text?’” Forgays said.

The study also explores the differences in private and public behavior among individuals who have been raised with cellphone technology.

Forgays said sample questions include if someone would answer his or her cellphone while at dinner with a friend and if someone has ever ended a relationship via text.

Launched on SurveyMonkey.com last fall, Forgays plans to stop collection by the end of the month.

For some, the social standard of being just a call or a text away is more of an obligation than an obsession.  Some even ditch their phones on occasion to get away from it all.

A 2011 Pew Internet study on cell phones reported 29 percent of cellphone owners have turned off their phone to take a break.

Western senior Joseph Quinn said he leaves his phone at home from time to time.

Quinn, 24, said he hasn’t used the Internet on the smartphone he recently upgraded to. He said he usually uses his phone for checking the time and texting.

According to the Pew Internet study, half of American teens send 50 or more text messages each day, and one in three sends more than 100 texts each day.

Western junior Garrett Grigas, 21, mainly uses his phone for texting as well and has an unlimited texting plan.

Grigas said he texts seven or eight people each day and remembers when he lost his cellphone for four days. Communication was initially complicated, but after the first few days, it wasn’t too bad, he said.

Grigas and Quinn said their parents text. Seventy-two percent of all adults who were surveyed use their cellphones to send and receive text messages, according to the Pew study.

Forgays said she does not text and only turns on her cellphone after she arrives home from work. Forgays said she has eight contacts in her cellphone and prefers to communicate through email and in person. She said this is atypical, and most people communicate more using their cellphones.

Forgays used eating habits as an analogy for cellphone use. They vary, but are necessary for everyone to function at some level.

“You need to use a cellphone to communicate,” Forgays said. “To function the way the world is working right now, you need to use it. You need to eat. They’re behaviors we must engage in.”

Forgays said texting and email are popular because they are less invasive. 

“Somebody has control over when they answer, how they answer," she said. "You have open time — you can answer at three in the morning and you’re not bothering anyone.”

Western junior Ciara Sigmon said she got her first cellphone when she was 13 years old and started spending more time at school for after-school activities.

Forgays said parents usually decide to provide their children with cellphones for safety reasons.

Another Pew study reports that while 90 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 own a cellphone, this drops to 57 percent for adults over 65 years old.

Government contractor John Forsyth, 56, has never had a cellphone and doesn’t plan on buying one anytime soon. Forsyth said he has thought about it but doesn’t like the idea of constantly needing to charge it, or always being on-call.

“I’ve had girls turn me down because I didn’t have a cellphone number,” Forsyth said, joking.

Forsyth said he also has privacy concerns about cellphone use, namely with the government tapping wires and the ability to track people using wireless cell signals.

Forsyth usually communicates through his landline telephone and email.

This is possible, but not practical, because society relies on constant communication, Forgays said.

Forgays said it is better to maximize the positives: cellphones seem to be more of a supplement than a replacement for valuable, face-to-face interactions.

“Technology is not going to go away,” Forgays said. “If we start hammering it for all the bad things, that’s sort of useless.”