GAGA FOR GADGETS TECHNOLOGY'S IMPACT: WHILE MOST EMBRACE THE CONVENIENCE OFMOBILE ELECTRONICDEVICES, OTHERS WORRY THEY DEMAND TOO MUCH OF OUR ATTENTION

Considering his knit cap and dreadlocks, Robert Doerflinger's skateboarder side is more easily guessed than his identity as a bob-and-weaving day trader.

But sitting Monday morning in Peet's Coffee in downtown Santa Rosa, Doerflinger was all business, engrossed in his iPAQ, a Hewlet Packard handheld computer that suffices for his forays into researching and trading penny stocks.

For years, it's been a liberating way to work, he said. But Doerflinger said he almost regrets his time as a plugged-in role model. These days every other person on the street seems so engrossed in gadgets, they can barely say "hi," he said.

"I almost feel obligated to go up and tell them to get out and plant a garden," he said.

Good luck with that.

The speedy march of technology seemed to pick up a step Monday with Apple Inc.'s latest announcement in San Francisco of its iPhone 4, a quicker, thinner and more powerful version of its famous smart phone.

The device won't be available in stores until June 24, although the Apple Store in Santa Rosa Plaza seemed to already have all the enthusiastic customers it could want Monday. While the rest of the mall seemed sleepy, the Apple store appeared to be celebrating its own private Christmas.

Sean Lee, a finance worker, stopped by the store around 11:30 a.m. looking for help debugging his old iPhone. He got an appointment for two hours later. Lee, who uses the phone for music, texting and keeping up on Facebook, said he was interested in buying the upgrade, hopeful for faster downloads. His current phone is really slow, especially in San Francisco, he said.

"I like instant gratification," he said. But so much instant gratification worries some who wonder if all the distractions inherent in iPhones, iPads, Androids, electronic tablets and other devices are taking a toll. Between Twitter, Facebook and general Internet queries, demand for your attention never stops.

Karen Gwynn, sitting with her laptop outside the downtown library, said she wondered if dependence on many gadgets weren't making young users dumber. She recounted recently paying a $4.85 bill with $5.10, preferring a quarter back than loose change. The teenage cashier, she said, was dumbfounded by the math.

"They can't even count change," she said.

Still, she's a user, accessing the library's Wi-Fi while the library itself was closed.

Jordan Reisner, 17, who will be a senior at Santa Rosa High in the fall, said teachers' attitudes toward texting and online phone usage vary at school. Teachers of more academic courses tend to crack down on use, but others allow it.

Reisner said that as a teacher's assistant last year she was allowed to text in class. Still she says, her work got done.

Kaitlon Hall, 17, said the omnipresence of personal technology can cut both ways. A self-described texting addict, she said she uses her phone to send 5,000 to 6,000 texts a month. Before she switched to an unlimited texting plan, her messaging habit once wracked up a $600 bill. Her constant back-and-forths didn't help her at Santa Rosa High where she said she was more apt to text than to listen in class or do homework. But at Ridgway High School, where she now gets more individual attention, she keeps the phone away during lessons -- and then turns on her iPod to help her focus as she works. "It's like playing Mozart for a baby," she said. "Music helps me focus on whatever I'm doing."

Andrew Savikas, vice president of digital initiatives for Sebastopol-based O'Reilly Media, said hand-wringing over technology is nothing new. People have worried about the effects of innovations from the telegraph to the railroad. Fifteen years ago, experts worried about Internet addictions.

"We've been here before," he said. "It's rarely been as much as a problem as people tend to fear."

One thing is very clear to him -- digital media is on the rise. Indeed on his company's Web site, e-books now outsell paper ones five to one.

Local software developer Jeff Bodean, who designs applications for iPhones, said the rise in smart phones and tablet computers is actually freeing us from the restraints of technology, cutting our ties to less portable laptops and computers.

"Between the iPhone and the iPad, we are not really leashed to our desks any more," he said. "I spend a lot less time on my computer."

Still freedom to roam comes with a price.

Lee, who was visiting the Apple store, was on vacation Monday. But he still spent the morning reading a constant flow of work e-mails.

"I want to be kept in the loop," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Sam Scott at 521-5431 or sam.scott@pressdemocrat.com.