Distracted walking

[gsdx]

You've seen the videos. People talking on cell phones or texting and falling into a water fountain. People walking into poles. People walking into other people or slamming into doors. Lots of 'ha ha ho ho'. But it's much more serious than that.

Injuries due to distracted walking are up 25%. (There are plenty of studies. Just Google 'distracted walking'.)

People (especially younger people) are so wrapped up in their cell phones that they walk into traffic without even knowing it. When will people realise that they cannot multitask? Even a computer can't multitask. It can do a lot of things, but only one of them at a time. They just switch from one task to another very quickly. People? Not so much.

Distracted walking is almost as dangerous as distracted driving.

Agree or disagree?

 

[Taz]

Consider it natural selection. Less idiots won't hurt the planet.

And if course computers can multitask, at the moment I'm using the Internet, while downloading tv watching a video and copying photos off my phone. Hahaha.

 

[umjreon88]

ALMOST as dangerous! But yeah, I tend not to look at my phone when walking across the road. The only time which I would look at my phone that is if I'm running late!

 

[nycguydowntown]

A friend almost got run over by a NYC cab for stepping off the curb while being mesmerized by a hot guys ass in gym shorts. you don't need a phone to have an accident.

 

[freefall]

But what about clumsy walkers?

 

[m1thousand]

 

[JayHawk]

First, I swear i would be in jail for murder if those twats were following me around. Second, I couldnt help but laugh at running into a wrong way sign. Wrong way indeed.

 

[T-Rexx]

I did this in Rome.

I got so caught up in all the architecture and activity around me that I stepped into a crosswalk without checking both ways. I was nearly run over by a motorcycle.

And the bike rider was pretty angry with me!

 

[gsdx]

I posted here a year or so ago watching a girl coasting down George Street (a slight downhill grade), sitting up in the seat and her eyes glued to her cellphone. She texted her way right through a red light. Fortunately for her, nobody was approaching the intersection from the other direction.

I've been bumped a number of times by people walking and texting, and I've had to step off the sidewalk because a texter approaching me didn't know I was there. I was rear-ended once in FreshCo with a shopping cart by some idiot talking to someone on her cell phone and not paying attention to where she was going.

It's not only the people doing the walking and texting who are in danger. It's those around them as well.

 

[cgymike]

I saw one the other day crossing against the light...a metro bus almost hit her. It's crazy. What is so friggin important on that screen compared to the traffic which may squash you in a second?

 

[cynicus]

People like this is why there is a Darwin Award. Thins out the herd of asshats.

 

[Kulindahr]

Consider it natural selection. Less idiots won't hurt the planet.

That was my first thought.

And if course computers can multitask, at the moment I'm using the Internet, while downloading tv watching a video and copying photos off my phone. Hahaha.

People can also multitask -- but more people think they can than actually can.

I posted here a year or so ago watching a girl coasting down George Street (a slight downhill grade), sitting up in the seat and her eyes glued to her cellphone. She texted her way right through a red light. Fortunately for her, nobody was approaching the intersection from the other direction.

I've been bumped a number of times by people walking and texting, and I've had to step off the sidewalk because a texter approaching me didn't know I was there. I was rear-ended once in FreshCo with a shopping cart by some idiot talking to someone on her cell phone and not paying attention to where she was going.

It's not only the people doing the walking and texting who are in danger. It's those around them as well.

Abso!

I can multitask, but I refuse to even think about doing so where it could result in an accident. I get razzed by friends for taking my shopping cart out of an aisle in order to answer a phone call, and that's just to not be rude. I even put phone conversations on pause before crossing an intersection on foot -- no way at all you'd get me to text while crossing, or even simply walking.


Think of it as evolution in action.

 

[SaskGuy]

I see people walking around with their faces in their phones all the time now. In fact, I've seen two people sitting right next to eachother, each one sitting silently and texting, instead of talking!

One particular friend of mine has a habit of just answering a text while he's in the middle of something. Suddenly his phone goes off, and everything goes on hold while he checks and answers the stupid thing. I hate that, just being interrupted while we're in the middle of a conversation. Then I'm left sitting there, feeling like a moron.

 

[DonQuixote]

It's called being a senseless boob.

And damned rude, too.

Pavlov must be grinning in his grave at all of the "conditioned to the bell" humans trudging around.

 

[star-warrior]

Oh man, that signpost was right.

Wrong Way.

 

[eastofeden]

I have to make a conscious effort not to think about the "all about me" people...driving...walking....expecting everyone else to be over cautious to accommodate their selfish clueless asses. The only thought I have is when someone dies or gets hurt due to their actions it is them and not anyone else.

 

[luckynumbah7]

Distracted walking is almost as dangerous as distracted driving.

Agree or disagree?

Agreed.

It is possible to multitask, though. I use mostly touch and hearing when I go somewhere, plus sight - although the sight is, admittedly, more of an afterthought when I'm travelling. The thing with multitasking is that you need to be prepared to use more senses than sight to go anywhere, but most people don't bother - not only don't they bother, they think they can ignore sight as well, as if they understood what the rest of their senses were telling them.

The second most common sense for sighted people to use when travelling is hearing. I don't think hearing is 'static' like sight is, though. If you look up and see a building, that building isn't going to move on your ass and head to Tahiti. That engine sound that's associated with diesel motors, though, is entirely different, but a lot of people with sight don't associate it that way. I think they see a truck idling on the corner and they assume it'll stay there, so they go and use their phone - meanwhile, their hearing is telling them that the truck is gonna hit their ass and they don't know enough to pay attention, since they associate sound with sight.

In other news, I loath cell phones. Or rather, the people who are attached to them at the hip. I don't want to be connected to the world 24/7 through a phone line and I hate the people who put everything aside and almost run me over because the damn things beeps that they've got a new message. I've lost count of the number of times that's happened. As for natural selection, it also, unfortunately, affects the people they hit.

 

[gsdx]

I see people walking around with their faces in their phones all the time now. In fact, I've seen two people sitting right next to eachother, each one sitting silently and texting, instead of talking!

It saddens me and angers me more when I see children being neglected. So many times I've young children begging for Mommy's attention and little babies literally crying out for Mommy's attention and not getting it. An entire generation is being brought up thinking that a cell phone is more important than they are.

 

[Kabluey]

I have to admit I've ended up at my destination without quite knowing how I got there.
Which is worse, phone distraction or autopilot?

 

[Kulindahr]

In other news, I loath cell phones. Or rather, the people who are attached to them at the hip. I don't want to be connected to the world 24/7 through a phone line and I hate the people who put everything aside and almost run me over because the damn things beeps that they've got a new message. I've lost count of the number of times that's happened. As for natural selection, it also, unfortunately, affects the people they hit.

I remember a couple of summers ago at a swimming hole, I met some kids who all had walkie-talkies, waterproof jobs with a range of a few miles. Their phones had been taken away and locked in the car the moment they reached the river. Their parents were of the opinion that when you go to enjoy nature, the distractions of civilization are to be left at home.

And I almost cheered last week when biking out to do some of my conservation work, when I saw a guy grab his girl's cell phone and mime tossing it into the bay; while she screamed and had hysterics, he popped the battery out and pocketed it. I gave the gal a sad look as I passed -- what stupid bitch out for a hike with her boyfriend can be so clueless as to text on her phone and ignore him?