Before I share this opinion, I apologize in advance to anyone who may become offended. It is certainly not my intent. Simply put, I do not understand the fascination (or addiction) to cell phones and the incessant need to react immediately upon receipt of a message or email. It might be my age or because other than LinkedIn I do not participate in social media. With no scientific evidence whatsoever, I can only equate the reaction to dings, beeps, rings or other sounds to an experiment conducted in or around 1889. If you are not familiar with the study, Google Pavlov.
What is unsettling is the fact people have become conditioned to respond immediately whether operating a vehicle (any type), walking, jogging, exercising, eating, relaxing (?), etc., the list goes on and on.
Every day I see people of all makes and models trying to read or respond to some type of message while driving. Of course I cannot say these people are dumb because I have seen some really “smart” people demonstrate this exact behavior. I thought about just calling them stupid then realized that would be insulting. Therefore, I have come to see this as people doing some really stupid things. Woof.
I was at a restaurant last week and a couple sat across from me. They paid little attention to each other (if any) as they were buried in whatever extremely urgent and cannot live without update that was coming across on their phones. It was bad enough they did not silence their phones and downright rude when they answered calls. All I kept thinking was there is a relationship with little hope. Woof.
So why has the vast majority of people succumbed to this annoying and incredibly dangerous behavior? Is it they feel they are immune to the potential dangers or just plain ignorant? Last summer we hosted a BBQ and had a delightful mix of people ranging in age from mid teens to mid 80’s. I was sitting with one of the more elderly folks and a couple of people significantly younger people (by at least 50 years) and we were enjoying a delightful conversation about summer activities. All of a sudden a phone beeped and one of the younger people pulled out the phone and started typing and sharing the message with a couple of his friends. Back and forth the beeps kept coming. Finally, the older woman said to the young man “Put that stupid phone away! We are having an adult conversation and you are being extremely disrespectful!” This was priceless because I fully believe it was the first time anyone had admonished this young man for his behavior. He turned bright red and to his credit he apologized.
News Flash: 99% of the tweets, twits, chits, chats, snaps, snips, snipes, instawhatever, emails, etc. are not life threatening and therefore can wait. So, little puppies, while driving or engaging with another human (face to face), please set your phone aside. Ideally when driving one would keep the phone in the computer bag, hand bag or glove box or here is a novel idea turn it off! While I can’t say 100% of the messages are NOT important, I can say 100% of the people’s lives in the other vehicles take precedence. Woof Woof!