Moq and My Friend made very good points (and Moq, I loved your line about stores that cater to the Rich and Yeshivish)
As NYer as I am, I try very hard not to get swept up in the cell-text-always-wired-always-want-to-be-somewhere-else mania.
When I go to shul / shiur, I leave my cell phone at home. If its THAT important, I can be called out. Its only 15 minutes from my house, so if its not important enough to come get me, it can wait till I get back home.
A few years ago, I was at a concert, sitting in the $25 seats. Ahead of me, were the $50, $75 and $100 seats. At any given point, half the crowd, (sitting in very expensive seats), could be seen on their Blackberry / PDAs. And these were people that paid good money to be there, yet apparently wanted to be somewhere / with someone else. Its a NY thing.
My friend made another good point. OOT (wherever that might be) everyone is there by choice, so they presumably share common interests / goals, whatever, so not only are there less people to know, all the people there WANT to be there, and enjoy being there. Contrast that to a NYer like me, I’m forced (self imposed, perhaps, but that’s besides the point) to be here, along with the the other 50,000 or so people in frum NYC, there is no way for me to get to know each and every one of them. So I stick to the 50 or so friends (excluding the CR friends of course to which logistical constraints do not apply)and leave it at that.
As far as the mad rush in NYC as opposed to elsewhere, this (IMHO) is because in NYC, if you blink, you’ve missed something. OOT (again, werever that might be) if you close your eyes for 30 minutes, what did you miss? The grass growing another milimeter? (Ha, Ha, just kidding)
But really, NYC is a frenzied merry-go-round, and we are hanging on for dear life, loving every thrill-packed moment! (this, as the sirens scream past my window, flying down 13th ave and 80 MPH!)