This summer, city sidewalks are clotted with people gazing in store windows, dodging bikers and skateboarders, and . . . bumping into each other. Or colliding with lampposts. Or tripping over curbs. Or wandering into crosswalks against the light. Or, in one case we witnessed, stumbling over a startled beagle’s rump, mid-tail-wag.
Why? Because the walking wanderers’ eyes are riveted to the smartphone. They’re thumbing a text or pounding out an email or checking Facebook or blissfully scanning eBay while paying absolutely no attention to obstacles looming right in front of them.
We understand the mesmerizing power of the glowing cell screen. This summer, Pokemon Go beckons. That adds to the usual distractions: texts and emails from friends and family that must be answered right now. Facebook posts that just have to be viewed. Positively urgent tweet threads. Breaking news alerts. And so on.
Texting and walking simultaneously may seem as simple as breathing and walking. But it’s not. As one doctor said, “When you’re texting, you’re not as in control of the complex actions of walking.”
Just check out the rising number of reported accidents involving distracted pedestrians who increasingly wind up in the doctor’s office or emergency room.
Those who don’t get hurt still manage to irritate fellow pedestrians by veering this way and that, making it difficult to maneuver around them or simply avoid a collision. Researchers say these zombies’ altered balance makes them less likely to walk in a straight line.
Even if you don’t stumble into a fountain, long hours of texting take a toll on you. Physical therapists report a rising number of teens complaining of “text neck”—back and neck pain caused by the strain of hours of hunching over a phone.
Last year the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons launched a campaign to warn of the dangers of what it dubbed digital deadwalking. The academy released survey results indicating that 78 percent of adults in the United States think distracted walking is a “serious” issue. Trouble is, only 29 percent admitted they did it themselves.
Come clean, people. Who among us has never fished out a phone while walking in full head-flop, cruised the web, answered a friend’s text, made a dinner reservation, found a movie time, sent a bitmoji . . . .
We applaud certain millennials we know who go cold turkey, leaving cellphones behind when they go out to dinner or movies. They want to focus on their friends and family, free of the incessant nagging of the phone and the compulsion to check the screen.
Can cell-addicted Americans kick the habit? Sure. It doesn’t take 12 steps, just two: Stow the phone. Resume your life.