http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPW8xmI4w6U
I’m sure we all have seen the infamous video of a young woman who thinks it is very easy to walk and text but soon realized that this wasn’t so after she ends up in a water fountain in the middle of the Mall. Examining the video, it was so obvious that she was so focused and devoted to texting, she somewhat forgot that she has to look ahead instead of down on her cell phone to move forward. We all text, everyday, constantly, frequently, some more than others. It is a way of communicating with friends, families, coworkers or whoever the case may be. Short messages or long messages, it is still challenging to focus your complete and utter attention to texting and any other activity that is done at the exact moment.
Speaking from personal experiences, I text a lot, but it is very hard for me to text and walk, text and talk or to text and do any other activities that require a solid amount of attention. Texting while talking to someone rude, while talking or driving while texting can be very dangerous. Whenever I talk to my mom, I definitely have to pay attention and not text, because she asks questions to see if I really was paying attention or just nodding for the sake of nodding. : )
Also, we all know that texting while driving is very dangerous. Texting requires more attention and because of this, we tend to limit the attention of focusing on the road, and place more emphasis on the texting which in many cases, result in accidents, fender benders and even fatalities.
So for those of us who text and drive/walk/talk or any other activities, be careful you may end up tripping, falling into fountains or even seriously hurt.
I think it’s pretty disconcerting that social media and technology is able to affect both our metaphysical and physical worlds. It’s obviously changed the way that individuals market themselves, but it has also changed the way we partake in everyday activities. As Davika stated, people text while they walk, talk, eat, attend class, drive, etc. Most people simply view this as multi-tasking, but in recent years it has come to light that texting is more than just a distraction. In fact, statistics show that texting while driving is 6 times more likely to result in an accident than drunk-driving (http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell-phone/statistics.html). People generally believe that these accidents only result in harm to the driver, but a short documentary put together by AT&T shows that this is most definitely not the case. You can watch the documentary here: http://www.textfreedriving.org/. Clearly, social media and technology have wormed their way into almost every aspect of people’s lives, often doing more harm than good.
When i first saw this video, no doubt i was laughing my butt off, but as i began to show my friends, the thought occurred to me, how could you be that distracted? Just like gywn points out, it is very disconcerting how all these forms of technological advances in communications can affect us so much. When we look past this video that has gone viral for it’s comedic aspects you start to think about yourself. Have I ever been that distracted? This young woman walked straight into a fountain! One would think maybe her peripherals would help her out, but she was totally engrossed in her activity, of texting, she didn’t notice her surrounding at all. For all we know, she could’ve been doing a multitude of things considering phones’ capabilities these days too. And all these technological advances are amazing and can come in handy, they can be just as dangerous. There are more things now on our phones to distract us than phone calls and text messages, now there are games, facebook feeds, twitter updates, etc. Although these things are great when we get bored in between classes, these aren’t things we should be doing while participating in some kind of activity that requires our attention, and in this instance, it just so happens to be, walking.
When I watched the video, I also laughed at first, but felt bad for that woman. While being distracted texting, some of us walk into things and we can just brush it off. But this woman walk into a water fountain, which is more embarrassing since she has to walk around with wet clothes. Like posters pointed out before me, it raises the awareness of danger when multitasking texting and our daily activities. The video shows an embarrassment, but it could have been more dangerous, such as texting while driving. I hope people learn a lesson or two from watching that video.
From my personal experiences, I learn not to walk while texting. Bumping into people and tripping hurts. Driving or operating machinery while texting is really silly and dangerous to you and those around you. You will be very distracted and accidents will happen. I agree with Davika that texting while talk to someone is rude. It makes the other person feel unimportance and you are not listening to them. It is almost as if you are ignored. Not only that, but sometimes you have to wait for the person to finish texting to respond or be respond with a “huh?” “yea,” or “what did you say?” To sum it up, you should only text when you have free time and will not be distract.
This video is very funny yet sad because it shows how technology has consumed us to the point where we are unable to pay attention to our surroundings. This woman is an example of so many that are out there who have done the same thing but they just have not been video taped. She is lucky she was not operating a vehicle where this could have been fatal. This type of distraction is fatal for a lot of individuals. Although I fall prey to texting while walking like this woman, at some point I must look up for a second at least to see if anyone is coming towards me or what have you. This is an easy way for someone to rob you or take advantage of you somehow. I think this video should be a lesson learned to all of us that we need to snap back to reality sometimes so technology does not have a hold on us.
I must say I am a victim of this multitasking while walking around the city. Ever since I bought my first blackberry I’ve been addicted to texting or browsing the web. I use my phone for everything and usually when I need it most I’m walking around looking for a place. But I can say I’m pretty good when it comes to not bumping into other people or walls or light posts. However, I always see people performing my same task and they are so into what they are doing on their phone that they forget they have to watch out for others around. These people end up bumping into everything and of course I find it funny when I watch it happen. These people have made me more cautious when I do walk and text because I don’t want to be that person to bump into something or even worse cross the street not having looked up first.
Walking around is one thing but when someone is texting while driving I find that to be dangerous. One too many times I’ve been in a car with someone who attempts to text and drive but I don’t trust anyone to do this not even the most experienced driver. I immediately try to take the phone away from them. Just like I or any other person can get swept into what we are doing on our phone, a person driving can do the same, except that a driver can cause a massive accident.