Agirl fall into a manhole , anotherlady face - plants on some stairs , andone guy almost gets mauled by a goddam bear . At this tip , we ’re way past laughable , and it ’s all happening simply because people are walk around like techno zombies whose spirit - military group are apparently sustained by the digital mess come out of their earpiece . So the next time you go for a stroll , I pray you : Put the phone down , find fault your chief up , and walk .
bet , I get it . As someone whose job involves checking out every new portable equipment and is seldom caught with fewer than three different handsets , I know all too well that phones are incredibly addictive . Theirbrightly colored displays make real life seem boring , while your friends , associates , and everyone else on social media constantly solicit for your aid . And you often obey , even despiteevidence that suggestsallthat crapactually makes us pitiful .
Even companies likeGoogleandApplehave acknowledged the trouble , which is why both are take digital well - being a major area of advance for their next big peregrine atomic number 8 releases . Have we really buzz off so addicted to tech that we ca n’t endure not absorbing everything we can from the internet for more than a few minutes at a time , even while walking ? Apparently , yes .
Every day , as I ’m commuting back and forth to work and coming together , I ’m constantly chivvy by people who seem like ostrich , with their neck craned down at their handsets while attempt to pilot in use sidewalk , stairs , and escalators through what I can only assume is a salmagundi of unhelpful peripheral vision and some form of ESP . But it never works . And it ’s not just walking and texting either — multitude are watching Netflix , FaceTiming , and even playing game while they mill around about .
At this dot , everyone hump that trying to text or , even worse , watch a flick while driving is venomous and dumb . And while distrait walking may not be quite as unsafe , these accidents are no joke : Astudy direct by Ohio State Universityfound that , in 2010 , more than 1,500 people terminate up in the emergency brake elbow room due to not take care where they were walking . That was before the majority of people in the U.S. have smartphones . As of 2011 , just 35 percentage of us had a phone capable of full mind - emersion , according to Pew Research . That number jumped to 77 percent at the beginning of this year . Now , I forever have to slalom my path down the pavement to keep from running into the zombie walkers .
None of this intend you need to take your headphones out or refrain from looking up directions on your machine ; just commemorate to keep your heart up while you ’re doing it . Besides , if you decide to disconnect from your phone for a while , you might be capable to reconnect with your immediate surroundings — you know , the people and things that are just as important , if not more so , than what ’s become on inside that flyspeck small blind .
So while the tech giant work on lessening the impact of smartphone dependance , in the end , real change has to come in from within . But just in cause that does n’t work , here ’s a message from the remainder of us on the cyberspace : If you ’re walking , it ’s prison term to lumber off .
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