This article is more than 2 years old.

November 21, 2014 This article is more than 2 years old.

Presidents—they’re just like us.

Barack Obama boarded a helicopter this morning, on his way to Las Vegas to promote his immigration policy, before realizing he had left something behind. So he dashed back across the South Lawn and into the White House, reemerging a few minutes later.

“Didn’t you guys ever forget something?” he told puzzled reporters, before holding aloft the misplaced item: “My BlackBerry.”

The moment was perfectly human. And another signal, as if we needed one, that smartphones have permeated daily life like no other electronic device.

It was also a reminder that the US president differs from the average American in at least one respect: He still uses a BlackBerry. Obama has said he can’t use an iPhone or Android device for ”security reasons.”