Presidents throughout history have sacrificed much of their personal lives when they took office, but one of Barack Obama’s toughest sacrifices is something Washington, Lincoln and both Roosevelts never had to consider: giving up his BlackBerry.

According to published reports, security officials have told the president-elect that the device is not secure enough to meet standards and the system could be hacked and messages intercepted.

White House attorneys also have cautioned that the device could be subpoenaed, potentially making public any personal messages sent through it, according to reports.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama told The New York Times. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

In the words of another Democratic president, local BlackBerry users can feel his pain.

“It would be like I was totally disconnected, like someone had amputated my right arm,” said Linda McReynolds, vice president of the United Way of Chattanooga and a self-described “Crackberry” addict.

Ms. McReynolds, 61, said she receives 50 to 75 e-mails on her BlackBerry every day. She can’t imagine Mr. Obama losing such an important tool on the first day of one of the world’s most stressful jobs.

“I can empathize with him,” she said. “We should start our own support group.”

Shawn Roberts, 25, an IT administrator at a Trenton, Ga., construction company, got a glimpse of what it is like to lose the gadget when he recently left his BlackBerry at home. He explained his problem to his boss, a fellow BlackBerry user, who let Mr. Roberts off the clock to drive home to North Chattanooga to pick up the device.

“You can really feel hurt if it’s taken away or if it goes dead,” he said.

Derrick Mull, a 24-year-old bookkeeper in Chickamauga, Ga., is a recent convert, having purchased his BlackBerry in October.

“Just having it makes you feel good because you know everything is right there on your phone,” he said.

He said losing the device might seem like a huge blow to the president’s ability to do business but that Mr. Obama’s staff should help make up for the lost connections.

“If I were in his shoes, I think I would understand that he’s now just going to have people come and tell him what would normally come in on his BlackBerry,” he said.

C-Net.com reports that security officials for Mr. Obama have a couple of approved smart phones, including General Dynamics’ Sectera Edge and the still-underdevelopment Guardian from L-3 Communications. But local users say once someone is accustomed to the BlackBerry, there’s a learning curve with switching to a different operating system.

Colin Zerk, 24, of Ringgold, Ga., who Twittered the birth of his son to family over his BlackBerry, said if he were Mr. Obama, he would consider using some executive power.

“I’d be tempted to call Research In Motion (makers of the gadget) and get them to make me a BlackBerry the (National Security Agency) would approve,” he said.