TEXT SAFELY: THE PERILS OF TEXTING AND WALKING AT THE SAME TIME
Texting is a common means of staying in touch with friends, family and co-workers. It is the best way to communicate with people, especially when you do not want to speak, but it has been posing a lot of problems for people who do not know when to stop or the right time to text.
Photo by Cristofer Maximilian from Unsplash
The media and road safety agencies have been focusing more on "don't drink and drive, don't drive and drink", "don't answer a phone call when you are driving" but little or no attention is on texting and walking. Texting and walking at the same time can cause a lot of harm if care is not taken. The reason is not far-fetched, it makes you lose concentration.
Walking and texting have caused so many accidents and made people lose their valuables as well (phone, money, wallet, cards etc) in the last few years. It gets even more serious to deal with when the ear is blocked with earpiece while texting and walking. The sound of uncoming vehicles will not be heard which may lead to a ghastly accident if the driver isn't careful as well. Also, the person texting, walking and listening to music at the same time is more liable to be attacked and robbed of his or her valuables. In such cases, the person is not alert and aware of the happenings in his or her environment, putting him or her at a high risk of being attacked.
Photo by Andrew Haimerl (andrewnef) from Unsplash
On several occasions, i have watched videos that are tagged "funny" on social media where people walking and texting fall into a pit, hit their heads on poles, miss their steps and so on. These videos make people laugh and all, but in actual fact, it isn't funny. These people in such video are likely to sustain serious injuries that could affect their health for life. The message such videos are meant to pass to the public is to handle their texting obsession by knowing when to stop and when to continue, and not just for comic purposes.
One of such unprintable incident took place some months ago to a coworker who was texting and walking in the night as she was going home from where she went to buy groceries. She was engrossed with the conversation that was going on in the phone that she didn't know that she was being tailed by some group of boys. To cut the long story short, she was way laid and dispossessed of her smartphone and all the cash in her bag. She was lucky the young men are not fans of tea and milk, they didn't cart away the stuffs she bought. But, of what importance is a bag of groceries to an expensive smartphone and cash that was stolen. There are loads of similar incidents like this that have happened due to obsession with texting.
In the same vein, distractions that results from texting and walking have caused pedestrians to cross roads without paying attention to cars, motorcycle or bicycle that are coming their direction. Pedestrians that are fond of texting and walking do not look out for street signs at all because their mind is far away in the discussions going on.
Photo by mosab biltawi from Unsplash
Children and youths need to be sensitized on the use of smartphone while walking to avoid and reduce the calamities that is caused by this obsession. The number of children and youths that are guilty of this act is on the high side. It is rare to see a full grown adult to be seen pressing phone and walking at the same time, most of them do not even have time for smartphones.
It is important to be alert at all times and learn how to walk without texting. This can be best achieved by limiting phone usage when you are outdoor.