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"Supertaskers" Can Safely Use Mobile Phones While Driving
nk497 writes "While most of us are dangerous when texting, chatting on a phone or being otherwise distracted while driving, one in 40 are actually just fine with such distractions. In a small study, such 'supertaskers' were just as good at driving when carrying on a conversation over a hands-free phone as they were when fully focused. That said, the researchers warned that most people are much worse at driving while chatting and shouldn't do it, adding: 'Given the number of individuals who routinely talk on the phone while driving, one would have hoped that there would be a greater percentage of supertaskers.'"
That 1 in 40 aside, reader crimeandpunishment writes "The US Transportation Department is calling for a permanent ban on texting while driving, for interstate truck and bus drivers. An interim ban has been in place since January. The government says it is doing everything it can to make roads safer by reducing the threat of distracted drivers."
Well, this sounds like a self-correcting problem on a long enough time scale. Hope I'm one of the 40!
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I'm just fine with the added distractions. In fact, while driving, I usually #*&&&%>...
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I can see now a lot of people claiming to be supertaskers.
I hope those news don't make it to the general public;
This gives many ignorant people justification to feel like they are really one of those 1 in 40. Just don't fucking do it, whether you think you are good at it or not. I'm sure I could do it, but I try not to even answer the phone when I'm on the road.
There may only be 1 supertasker in 40 for now, but that proportion can only increase if the non-supertaskers carry on trying to multitask while operating heavy vehicles!
there is no god but truth, and reality is its prophet
The sample size was really small in this - 200. So 5 people out of 200 showed no deterioration in driving skill with improved memory performance.
I'd love to see how their driving metrics compared to everyone else though. Is it that the keep driving well while on the phone, or are they just crap drivers who don't concentrate on the road even when they're not on the phone?
think they are awesome multitaskers. They are wrong.
I wonder how many of those had a foreign driver's license.
I think the current poll is informative here. While I suspect that the average IQ of a slashdot reader is indeed above average, The percentage of "super genius" is probably exaggerated.
The lesson is that while 1/40th of the population falls under the "supertasker" category, the number that claim to be is much, much higher. My estimate would be 1/4th or more perceive themselves that way. And that's a dangerous perception to have.
Let's face it: nobody is willing to say "no phone use at all" while driving. So we have an entirely ineffective compromise which requires hands-free devices. This is a great way to pretend to do something while not actually doing any of it.
However, far worse, I think there is another factor here: If avoid all distractions while driving on a long trip one of two things will get you: highway hypnosis (a real form of hypnosis sometimes including post-hypnotic amnesia) or your brain will make up its own distractions. Really, has anyone here not had the experience of driving somewhere, getting there, and realizing that there is a chunk of time missing in your memory for part of the drive? While it is profoundly stupid to talk on the phone while navigating through a school zone crowded with students just released from school and their parents picking them up, I am not sure one can make a case that it is a net safety hazard to use a cell phone (hands-free or otherwise) driving down he freeway in the middle of nowhere. In fact, insofar as it prevents more dangerous hypnotic states from developing, it might be a net safety win to talk on the phone.
A much better approach would be to ban all use of cell phones while driving through residential and school zones, ban most cell use while elsewhere within city limits, and allow driving and talking on the phone on open roads in the country. That's not a popular view tough.
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And I occaisonally text while driving. Not usually phone calls, which seems a little ridiculous, I know.
I don't know if I'd call "Not being a dumb ass" as super-tasking.
It basically works like this:
#1 Keep your eyes where they are supposed to be. If you are in rush hour traffic, you've got a car in front of you. Keep your eyes on that car. Pull up the phone, hold it over your steering wheel so you can see both the phone and the car in front of you.
#2, don't be talking, don't be texting, don't be looking at anything else but where you need to be when Either Changing lanes, Turning, or reversing.
#3 I hope you've memorized your T9 or have good 1 handed touch-phone capabilites, because those are nice abilities to have. In fact, with a small enough flip phone, you can just flip it open over the steering wheel to read the message, while driving. Then, left hand on the wheel, bring the right hand with the phone down by your lap. You press the reply button, start texting your T9 you have memorized, like typing at a keyboad without looking at the keys. Press send. Close the phone, put it on the seat next to you.
Oh yeah, and I drive a standard, to add to the mix, but thats as simple as knowing when you can stay in a gear for while, and not texting when you'll need to shift.
Problem is this study will be shown to be proof worldwide when there are big differences between the US and other countries when it comes to driving and cars.
In the UK we're mostly manual transmission drivers. An auto is easier to drive when holding a phone, but try holding a phone, steering and changing gear at the same time!!
Great. Now every dipshit who thinks he is one of the 1 in 40 supposed "supertaskers" will feel he is entitled to fully express his inner idiot. Great. I'll bet that a few months or years from now this will be shown to actually be the crock of shit it sounds like.
I saw this teenager once shooting hoops while talking on his cell phone. For about five minutes he just kept at it, didn't miss a shot, didn't pause talking while doing a jumpshot or anything. Someone else started using the same hoop, no sweat, didn't even have to wait just perfectly synchronized with the other kid.
Damn.
1 in 40. Not me.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
You wanna see super taskers, look at an ambulance that's driving with it's lights and sirens on. We would clear an intersection, zip around traffic, talk on the radio, plug in addresses into GPS, and eat our lunch all at the same time, while trying to provide a smooth ride for the people in back doing CPR and handling sharp pointy objects.
98% of people will believe they're in the 2% who can "supertask".
I'm not a politician and I'm not in a huff. Instead I'm outraged at the assholes who take my life and that of others in their hands by driving around chatting on their cellphones absolutely oblivious to other drivers.
This is the first time I've cursed on slashdot. I don't like to do it and see far too much of it here and elsewhere. In this case though it's perfectly fitting.
I think it is safe to say I am a supertasker. I have over 100 APM in StarCraft 2 and am ranked 3rd in Platinum ladder. I have 4 monitors connected to my PC and use them all at the same time running many programs, viewing many pages etc. I still try to avoid phoning while driving though.
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are you retarded enough to suggest just because we can't ban all possible distractions, we should just let drivers do dangerous shit like text while driving? this sounds like the same logic as "condoms are only 99% effective so lets not bother with them!".
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
What's the difference between texting and reading a book/newspaper/magazine?
A whole lot different than talking on a phone..... With out without a hands free!
Rick B.
The story title seems to cast a rather broad net with its "`Supertaskers` Can Safely Use Mobile Phones While Driving"... there's a huge difference between...
One just requires you to listen and yap - still not as good paying attention to your driving 100%, but people listen to (talk) radio and whatnot and sing along with songs or carry on conversations with others in the car (yes, they can help pay attention to the road), etc.
The other typically requires you to actually look away from the road and to a little screen/keyboard so you know what you're typing. Even if you've become highly proficient at texting using e.g. T9 on a standard phone pad (much easier than a full keyboard in this case) and don't have to look, you've still got one hand focused on a particular task not related to driving for an extended amount of time.
So even these 'supertaskers' aside, the study conclusion referred to doesn't seem to say anything about things like texting or checking your facebook or playing games and all those other things one can use a mobile phone for these days; just hands-free conversation.
As a contractor for the past 10 years, I often found myself in situations where I am driving and there is a phone call and there is an emergency or there is a meeting and I have to be there, whatever, I always hate those, because I know it is not a good idea to drive and be on the phone where I actually have to solve something, pay attention, participate. Have to do it anyway, so I don't know if these 'super-taskers' have a natural ability or they just do what I have to do and increase the attention that I pay to the road even more than I normally do, because I am scared of getting into an accident during the call. So for real, I pay more attention to the road and driving and what is around me while on the phone, then when I am not distracted. It's just a necessary precaution, otherwise you can't do it, you'll crash into something. I also learned to be able to stop caring about the phone, no matter what's happening there in an instant when necessary, that's important because whatever you do, there is always a chance someone will be changing lanes right into you, maybe they are also on a call and are not scared.
You can't handle the truth.
I'd suspect that the short term memory (or similar) of these individuals is better than average. Most people can remember 7 things at once, hence why phone numbers are that length. Some people can only remember 5, others 9. Depending on the type of conversation, I could imagine one that only required remembering two things to keep up with it. If you can normally remember 9 things, use 2 "slots" for a phone conversation would leave 7 slots for other tasks. Driving probably only takes ~4-5 so the reduced capacity isn't apparent.
OTOH, I'd imagine that you could determine a difference by increasing the difficulty of the task at hand. So I'd say even "supertaskers" would still have avoidable accidents at a higher rate then they normally would. Of course, their accident rate would still be within normal limits.
As a bicyclist, I am ready to go vigilante on some of the drivers I see on the road regularly. Just this morning, as I was about to turn left on my way to work, a woman barreling over a hill in a 30MPH zone while going at least 40MPH was holding up an iPhone directly in the center of her field of vision, and I think she may have actually been texting on it. I sure hope that not only was she one of these so-called "supertaskers," but that she could also react well to things she happens to see in her peripheral vision. So long as you do not plow into me from behind, I can usually take care of myself (although I have seen a motorist stray all the way into the bike lane and almost off the road once), but what especially irked me was the fact that she had just passed right by an elementary school.
I consider myself to be capable of multitasking fairly well. I do not know whether I am a "supertasker," but I have seen enough crazy things on the road in my lifetime that I always make certain that my attention is fully devoted to the road whenever I am behind the wheel. Whatever time I think I may be saving by refusing to make phone calls or read texts while driving is not worth the risk of ruining someone else's life.
1 in 40? I wonder if that is the same proportion of people who can be fighter pilots. In a past life I was a Weapons Director in the Air Force - fancy title for someone who looks at a radar screen and says "the bad guys are over there!" I worked with fighter pilots (primarily the F-15 and F-16), and the thing is, no one task they do is all that complicated. The catch is that you have to do several at the same time:
1) Fly the plane
2) Operate the radar
3) Search visually outside the cockpit
4) Talk/listen to your wingman
5) Talk/listen to radar controllers (that was me)
Only when you have mastered all these can you then:
6) Develop a mental picture of what is going on - "Situational Awareness" (SA)
7) Decide on the proper tactics and execute them, and
8) Get yourself into position and employ the weapons systems
Experienced pilots are obviously masters of all 8. An inexperienced pilot can get bogged down on step 2, and never hear you repeatedly telling him that the bandit is rolling in on his six-o-clock.
Of course, they get better, and I wonder if proper training could turn more people into 'supertaskers'. Then again, we don't spend hundreds of hours and millions of dollars training the average driver.
http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/sterling_spencer_gets_shacked_on_his_cell_phone/
I don't mind them talking... it's seeing them in heavy traffic run into the SUV in front of them and then continue talking on their phone as if nothing happened, that makes me want to stop my car, get out, and beat the hell out of them. Yes, I've actually witnessed this; I've also witnessed people merging into my lane directly into me while talking on the phone, then getting upset when I blew my horn at them. But then, I've also witnessed somebody without a phone drift slowly out of his lane and into the side of a bus I was on that was literally right outside his open driver's side window... dude, how can you not notice something that noisy that is literally casting a shadow on your whole car! I can only explain that one by assuming copious amounts of drugs were involved.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
some of these are seriously hilarious...like "Darwin Award" hilarious... http://hubpages.com/hub/Ten-Things-Not-to-Do-While-Driving
The problem is that most people can't "supertask." Taking away one distraction (to some) accomplishes nothing. People can still talk while they drive, change the song on their iPod, eat lunch, shave their bikini area, etc.
'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
is not the texting per se, but the lack of intelligence of the driver. Washington state has passed a law prohibiting talking on your cell phone without a hands-free device for the same reason.
I know several people who can drive and talk on or text with their phone without a problem. The key is, they know better than to do it in heavy traffic that is moving more than 10 miles/20 km per hour.
The same problem occurs with individuals carrying on conversations with their passengers, reading the newspaper, changing their radio, etc, etc, etc. It comes down to common sense. Which is, unfortunately, less and less common these days.
People just need a boogie man to blame for the problems and today's society says it is politically incorrect to say that many people are just stupid when it comes to driving. We, as a society, need to grow a set of balls and call the stupid people stupid. Their feelings are not protected by any laws.
Indeed -- talking is merely a distraction, texting should be prosecuted as attempted murder.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I'm one of those supermultitaskers! Yes I am! In fact, right now I'm driving while I posqoaherohd;lk
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
This is precisely why more forums are using catpchas.
ADHD is a myth. Much like the 1 in 40 are supertaskers.
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But I follow them because I realise that driving is a privilege and not a right.
Think of the physical and mental thought processes when up shifting in a standard transmission vehicle.
Your brain interprets, through the speedometre and tachometre, that you need to shift.
You press the clutch in with your left foot.
Shortly after you press the clutch in, you move the shifter into the next gear. You may have to move down, up and to the right, up and to the left, depending on your make of car.
You allow the engine to speed down to match the next gear. How do you do that? Well, you factor in the ratio of the transmission gear and the engine speed.
When the correct engine speed is attained, you release the clutch.
To someone who can't drive a std. transmission, that can be very daunting, and seemingly very distracting - but it's not.
But in the end, you can either do it, or you can't.
Some people can drive and talk at the same time, some people can't. Unfortunately, the law has to cater to the lowest common denominator.
Personally, the only new driving law needed is one that says you must re-take a driving exam if you have an verifiable, 100% at-fault accident. Obviously, you fucked up, so you should be re-certified.
Karma: Can only be portioned out by the Cosmos.
No you aren't.
How do I know? Because you know someone else with ADHD, which translates into you don't really have it, you're just in that group of people that was raised by parents who never made you actually sit down and focus for more than ten minutes.
Contrary to popular belief, THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD DOES NOT HAVE ADHD.
You're just an idiot, nothing more, nothing less.
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... I don't actually support a ban. Not because I would ever want someone to do it - I don't. Rather, because the ban is absurdly difficult to enforce. Cops can't easily tell when someone is really texting versus just dialing. And even if someone was sending a text message while driving it isn't easy to prove that they did it. AFAIK we already have provisions against "distracted driving" and "impaired driving" in most states, they should just charge people under those codes if they manage to catch any.
Instead we should alter the computers in cars to detect when drivers are texting while driving, and have the cars wrap themselves around phone poles. Then we wouldn't have to worry about repeat offenders.
And while we're at it I vote in favor of stripping the word "text" of its new verb status.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Meowing on the phone doesn't detract from her driving ability in the slightest.
In other words, perhaps their attention is more or less permanently divided between driving and a Walter Mitty like daydream. Then the phone distracts them from their daydream. That would imply that their driving performance doesn't decline because even when not distracted they drive like the rest of us would while on the phone.
TFA doesn't have enough information to know if the analysis considered that or not, it only spoke of relative performance for each individual.
Is this hoohah about talking on your phone, or texting with it? C'mon...
Talking on the phone has never been too distracting for me, and is at least as safe as having a passenger, unless she's better looking than my phone. Another problem.
But texting for me is an interesting proposition. Sometimes I do fine, and someetimes I have to stop cause I'm just not supertasking. I can see banning that, but banning conversations talking on the phone, that's stupid if you have a headset. If you don't, you should consider getting more life insurance. One-handed driving is a ticket to the morgue around here.
ps- 'Supertasking'? Nimrods. What's with the jargon creep?
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Like why I can drive while getting a blow job.
The article you are responding to clearly states that 1 in 40 people who engage in these activities are not any more dangerous while doing it.
It has nothing to do with "supertasking", though.
I believe the reason I can safely drive and talk on the cell phone is because I tend to ignore people talking when I'm doing something else.
In effect, I'm an inattentive listener, so it pretty much doesn't affect my driving, because if I have to do anything driving related, I tune out the person talking to me.
I'm also not afraid to drop the phone (literally) and deal with something if I need to. Anecdote: I was rear-ended once while on the phone. I was watching the rear view, noted the car behind me was going *way* too fast, threw it into gear and punched the gas onto the shoulder. (I dropped the phone in the process) She clipped the driver's side tail of my bumper, then plowed into the car that was (previously) directly in front of me. Picked back up the phone, apologized, briefly explained, then hung up.
That said, I *cannot* dial the phone or send a text. Both are dangerous when I'm driving.
Am I am of the 1 in 40? I can talk on the phone while driving with little to no performance suffering on the driving side. BUT- I prioritize driving so much higher that you wouldn't WANT to talk on the phone with me, since I often miss half what is said or pause to respond.
$renice 20 phoneuse
That just illustrates I *can* use the phone safely, but something is going to suffer, and I let it be the phone. I find it no more or less distracting than a passenger talking. That said, I very rarely use the phone while driving- only when very important, and always hands-free. Texting? Never while moving, only at a stop... and that, rarely, too.
1 in 40 is such a bad driver that being on the phone just doesn't matter!
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
If you're sure you could do it, why not arrange for a test and find out. There's no reason not to do it if would not impair your driving ability. In fact, I'd say that people who think they may be supertaskers should be able to take a test at the DMV to get a special license, given that their ability to react is not at all impaired. I, on the other hand, do not need to take the test to know I wouldn't pass.
Most of them are wrong.
ADHD is not a myth; my daughter has it. What is a myth is the belief that it is in any way abnormal or a disadvantage. One of the ways the doctor described it was an inability to filter out sensory input. I've been that way my entire life; it's the reason I'm uncomfortable in crowds. But I tend to notice things that nobody else does, and I was the smartest kid in my school and National Merit Scholarship Finalist. I believe ADHD should be the norm; if you're walking through the jungle engrossed in conversation with a friend, being suddenly distracted by a glimpse of a jaguar in a tree is an evolutionary advantage; not a disadvantage. Perhaps it is the people that successfully ignore 95% of their environment that are flawed. My daughter is awake and aware and lives in the now 100% of the time. From a Buddhist perspective, she is much more enlightened than the adults that are criticizing her.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
http://www.aqfl.net/?q=node/7470 :D
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This is the first time I've cursed on slashdot.
Once you start, it's really fucking hard to stop.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
First, judging from your other posts in this discussion, you're an idiot. I sincerely hope it's just a good acting job.
Second, ADHD is not a myth. There are many varying degrees of ADHD, and some are able to be controlled fully without medication. There are many people who are diagnosed to appease parents, and many people who go undiagnosed. That makes it very hard for anyone to judge what is a "disorder" compared to what is just "different."
I was diagnosed with ADHD about 12 years ago, and have been off medication for 6. I've spent the last decade training myself to be able to concentrate on a single task, and it's still very hard. I fought it for years, before I finally began to adapt. Now, my office desk has several toys on it, to give my hands something to do. There's a half-dozen pens (which haven't worked in a long time) simply for the purpose of occupying my teeth. I (a software engineer) usually work on about six issues at once, while my coworkers are working on one or two.
ADHD does exist, and it's a hell of a disorder. I've stayed awake for hours at night, just watching the movie of ideas go through my mind. I've lost jobs and friends because I couldn't follow through on tasks.
Today, I consider my ADHD to be a benefit. I resolve more tickets than most of my coworkers, especially those involving debugging. I do not suffer from the tunnel vision that often plagues programmers. The condition is there, but it no longer disrupts my life. As such, it no longer fits the criteria for a "disorder." I am cured.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
... dude, how can you not notice something that noisy that is literally casting a shadow on your whole car!
Easy, it's called "sleeping".
Seriously though, for people who aren't constantly checking their surroundings, it's very easy to get lulled into a daze and not notice incredible things. I've had several people almost run me off the road because they just weren't paying attention - they were zoned out.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
i agree it's stupid to try ban everything that might distract drivers, but unfortunately we have lots of stupid people so we need to take out as many oppertunities to do stupid things as possible. i strongly think smoking while driving is a major problem. i know people who have been in serious accidents because they were trying to light a cig or dropped one in their lap.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
...Supertaskerus!*
*Didn't read through all the comments, but I am rather amazed that there aren't more posters claiming the "Supertasker's" cape.
Or is it cowl?
Shield maybe?
Sword?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
...like having to take your hands off the wheel to operate another device - or worse - your eyes off the road to read the text messages.
What part of "hands free" and "conversations" did you not understand? This is actually pretty damning for proponents of hands-free cell phone use in vehicles.
The OP mentions texting, but that's not what this study was about, and you could get that just from reading the summary. It was about talking while driving, and only 1 in 40 can handle it. That is, only a little over 2% of drivers are not impaired by talking while driving.
That 1 in 40 would also be more likely to manage texting, but talking and texting do not equate, and texting is significantly more distracting. Texting while driving is already illegal almost everywhere, so I wouldn't worry about it unless it isn't illegal where you are. Then you should raise a ruckus and make it so.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
A study group of 200 in set conditions. Sounds to me like 1 in 40 people are more comfortable while driving and are capable of concentration on other things. I fail to see how this proves cell phones are not a distraction from driving for a small percentage of people. Perhaps it would have been better to say;
Those more comfortable with driving as a task, do better when having to perform another task, under set conditions.
For I do not believe for a second that these people are going to retain their 'supertasking' ability in an emergency. The whole idea behind not allowing cell phones while driving has more to do with emergency situations then running a red cause you're a jackass and are distracted easily. Any lapse in concentration from driving (changing radio station, conversing with passenger, looking at scenery) has been proven to cause accidents. Why? The unexpected. If your full attention is not on the road, pedestrians, other vehicles, and things directly pertaining to the task of driving, you absolutely will miss something one day, and you absolutely will pay for it with injury and possible fatality.
While I do in large part agree with this assessment... ADHD does exist. I have a sister thats living proof. Countless hours were spent trying to make her sit still and focus for more than 10 minutes but all attempts failed. She only somewhat gained control of it when she got older and mature enough to want to control it herself. Even now she still has problems though.
you can't control a child screaming
I can, but the parents would take exception. (Rather, they ought to take heed, and control their young.)
...and so is everyone else on /.
Basically, the conclusion is that some people are better than the majority of other people at certain things.
Who would have thought?
Oh and those guys that are better are probably better because they have more *experience* with it, so if you train, you can become better too!
Even if you don't RTFA, the summary contains this little gem which most seem to have missed:
In a small study, such 'supertaskers' were just as good at driving when carrying on a conversation over a hands-free phone as they were when fully focused.
The keyword is hands-free. In fact, in most states with cell phone driving restrictions, the restrictions don't apply to hands-free phones. So I don't know what this proves. The next article quoted in the summary goes on to talk about texting which does require hands. So the summary is really comparing apples and oranges. In fact, I'm not sure what we're supposed to conclude from all this.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Bless me father, for I have sinned on the road.
Even though I have bluetooth and speaker phone capability in my BMW, I haven't recorded the people I want to call on my voice-activation list, and so I hunt my iPhone for their names while weaving in my lane.
I also sometimes check new email headers just because I am so bored during my 36 mile commute.
I also confess to glancing at the cover screen which pops up new text messages and missed calls and voicemails when they come in.
So while I don't text per se, I am certainly guilty of being distracted while driving.
I am NOT a supertasker. I just can't resist the siren song of the iPhone, always beckoning me with the sweet voice of non-boredom...
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
37 out of 40 people think they are the 1 person out of 40 who's just fine. 36 of them are mistaken.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
i fucking fail aht reaheahding thihs suhmmarhymm whili hummm behing duhruhnkg...
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD DOES NOT HAVE ADHD.
Well somebody does... This is the 23rd of 24 posts by you so far today.
You're just an idiot, nothing more, nothing less.
And almost every single post ends like this, with you calling someone an idiot. If you don't have ADHD then you're probably a shell script.
Now, my office desk has several toys on it, to give my hands something to do. That's one of the things that pissed me off about my daughter's last teacher. She complained that my daughter had ADHD, and thought the solution was to confiscate anything that my daughter could possibly play with -- her school supplies, eraser, even her personal jewelry. Of course, she also thought forcing my daughter to sit on a blue "X" on the floor when every other child had the option of sitting in a chair was a good idea too -- "We're humiliating her in front of all her peers for her own benefit!" And of course, they retaliated against me by slapping me with a restraining order for merely complaining that treating a student differently from all the other students because they have a disability is against the law! I hope you had more enlightened teachers...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Great, now everyone will believe they are supertaskers along with being "good drivers" and above average intelligence.
"Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
I'm still waiting for congress to outlaw children, pets, food, makeup and music in vehicles. I find those to be bigger distractions to drivers. In my proposed law every driver is sectioned off in a sound proof, Faraday caged corner of their own car away from all passengers with no other input but the road! The car won't start if it senses food, drink or mp3 players. The rear-view mirror detects the application of makeup and causes the minivan to pull over. The last part is the outlawing of all flying insects that can enter through the windows. That's the only way to be completely distraction free and will help the economy because an entire industry will be created to retrofit every car on the road to being this new form of street legal.
Anyone who actually needs to devote 100 percent of their attention to their driving under normal conditions is most definitely a seriously bad driver and dangerous to everyone else.
The brain hunts for efficiency. This means it does not devote more effort to routine tasks than is required.
This also means the brain tends to try to put idle cycles into work on something, anything, else.
This should be plain as day. Common sense isnt common.
Why I drive drunk so well? I'm an ultra-mega-super tasker!
I hate riding around and seeing idiots jabbering on the phone in their SUVs and driving like I'm not even there. I feel like there's absolutely no recourse to the action. They aren't likely to hear me if I cuss them out, and I don't typically carry items to throw. I feel like there's nothing to reinforce proper behavior until they kill somebody, because there's just nothing I can do to them to get it through their heads that they are dumbasses before they drive off. Seriously, is there any way to get these idiots off the road? Will sending photos to police help?
Distracted driving is just that...a distraction. I can multitask with the best of them, but if it is other than a simple SHORT conversation, I find a parking lot to duck into (even using blue tooth). I use to volunteer working 911 for almost 13 years, and was very good at hearing 2-3 radio channels AND the phone, picking out what I needed, but, I didn't have to worry about crashing the radio into the wall either, I was sitting on my butt! Talking and driving is bad enough, TEXTING and driving is C&I, pure & simple.
The point you appear to be missing is that people with ADHD have no problem with focusing long-term on things they enjoy doing. My daughter can play the same online game for hours, working with people twice her age to accomplish goals. In college, I spent 24 hours in a single stretch trying finish a programming project. As far as really long term, my daughter is on one of the Northwest's best Allstar Cheerleading teams, and has made more progress in tumbling over the past year than anyone else on the team. Also, unlike myself, my daughter is extremely outgoing, amiable, and popular.
On a related subject, Google "Williams Syndrome" sometime. It is regarded as a genetic defect, much like Down's Syndrome, and yet it results in kids that are extremely loving, gregarious, frequently have absolute pitch and exceptional musical ability - in short, if it weren't for the adverse health effects, I'd regard this as a beneficial mutation, not a "defect". (My interest in this comes from the fact that my daughter has all the mental symptoms of Williams, but none of the physical ones.)
Unfortunately, as a culture we try to punish anyone that doesn't fit a narrowly-defined mold -- that's what our education system is all about. Instead of embracing the advantages that counterbalance the disadvantages of not being "normal" (many idiot-savants have much higher skill than you do in specific areas), instead we shun people that are different, even lock them away in institutions. Diversity is a survival factor; forcing everybody to be the same is ultimately fatal for the survival of the species. What makes you think my daughter even cares about living up to the standard of your narrow definition of "success"? She's having fun and making friends -- and ultimately who you know is much more important to success than being able to write a novel.
There are billions of people that live their entire lives without ever having driven a car; there are millions right in New York City. I'm not sure inability to drive is as big a disadvantage as you think it is.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Now we're going to have every asshole who causes an accident while texting/eating/shaving/writing a report/all at once will whine "But I'm a supertasker! it's impossible for me to drive distracted!"
Most laws are to allow safety for the lowest subset of the population. If 2.5% of the population can do something safely, but 97.5% cannot, the law will reflect that the majority cannot and therefore will not do that action.
We'll use another more obvious car analogy. I'm a good driver. I've been trained multiple times in advanced driving techniques for various purposes. I drive a very good and well tuned sports car.
Someone I know had an almost identical car. I told him about this road that I ended up on, in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit winding, but not all that bad. I was cruising at about 60mph. He told me about losing control at 50mph on that exact road, and sliding off the road into a body of water. Road conditions were the same. The insurance company totaled his car because of the water damage. The next time I drove through there (like, a year later), I noted the speed limit was 45mph. At 50mph, it was too fast for him to drive in a similar car. At 50mph, it may be too fast for someone in a vehicle that doesn't handle as well. The first time on the road, I saw a small Honda going about 60, and almost lose control. His car was leaning about 15 degrees because he was cornering so hard. My car didn't lean at all.
To make sure *EVERYONE* is safe on the road, they establish the rules so everyone can be safe. That's why speed limits get lowered in particular areas. That's why caution signs are put out on turns. And, that's why traffic lights are put out in low traffic areas that previously had stop signs. Hopefully those who aren't as attentive will notice a traffic light, versus a red sign on a post. Judging by other drivers behavior at stop signs, many are unskilled enough in traffic behavior to be able to negotiate even a simple 4 way stop.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
How is talking on a hands-free phone any different from talking to the guy in the passenger seat? (In fact, I'd probably be safer on hands-free phone than I am when I'm talking to a date and tempted to look at her while I talk.)
Pilots are trained for the ability to prioritize tasks while multitasking.
Aviate - navigate - communicate
In that order. Its not all that hard once you get your priorities straight. Respond to the tower -after- youve finished making your turn, adjust transponder -after- finishing your climbout... in the car tell your friend to hold on a sec while youre crossing that intersection, wait until -after- that lane change to fiddle with the cd player.
Using these methods i have been able to navigate LA rush hour in a 18 wheeler whilst talking to dispatch on the phone without any danger to myself or others.
Like you said, we dont -really- want drivers to glue their eyes to the road with 100% attention over a 6 hour drive anyway, it leads to fatigue and highway hypnosis... however we also dont want people watching cable tevee on the dashboard, we need to find a happy median somewhere in between.
Does this mean that 1 in 40 drivers are supertaskers, or do they just suck at driving whether they're on their phone or not? If the latter is true, I'm pretty sure that number is way off.
That's America for you. Rather than require that people learn how to operate a car we prefer to simply lower the speed limit to absurdly slow speeds that no one obeys anyway (thus making things more dangerous), then put in stop lights and crosswalks that have flashing signs when people get killed, spend millions redesigning intersections to make them idiot proof, and then writing off the rest of the death and damage as "accidents".
I like this country less and less every day.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
You can see the difference between a Supertasker and a Supertaker by comparing with the Undertaker because of Undertasking.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
The figure given in the stub, and the linked article, is inaccurate.
"The small percentage of what the authors termed "supertaskers" obviously left the authors considering the possibility that it was a statistical fluke. So, they created four pools from the scores from their tests (memory, math, braking distance, and response time) and used Monte Carlo sampling to create 100,000 random scores. Supertaskers appeared in only 0.16 percent of these, which indicates that the 2.5 percent figure they saw represents a real phenomena. "
Cite (seventh paragraph)
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
instead of thinking of 'supertasking' as only the ability to just do more things simultaneously you have to add the ability of some people to multitask some combinations while others can multitask other combinations.
Think of kind of a map of things a certain person can do simultanuously, and things that get in each other's way.
Different people have different maps, and training can modify the map to some extent.
With training a pianist can learn to do different things with left and right hand, or a drummer can learn to play different rthms with left and right feet.
On the other hand some guitarists can easily sing and play, others just can't do it, as if one guitarist needs the same part of the brain for both tasks, while another uses different parts.
Richard Feynman once spent time investigating that map. Some people can easily keep time, counting off 60 seconds very reliably while doing other tasks such as reading, and others just can't do it.
Some people will be better at multitasking, while some will just be different at it. I wonder if the researchers distinguished between those.
"Physics is Fun to Imagine" interview with BBC
I can't play 'tube on this box. It's likely segment 11 or 12 where Feynman gets into a multitasking competition with statistician John Tukey, and discovers that they can multitask different things, if no-one around here is patient enough to sit through the whole thing.
Just what did he think he was doing wasting all this time figuring this stuff out 40 years ago before anyone cared?
I very often use my cell phone while i drive as I am know that I am able to do it as I never take my eyes of the road, .....you can not be clueless, or unaware while driving...as there is no room for error.
even to dial (speed dial), I often even eat on the road while driving, but there is a way of driving while doing activities that
you must be aware of
Accidents happen because of lack of care....if you pay close enough attention, you can always avoid most accidents.
Many people are oblivious though, and giving them another reason to be even less aware on the road is not a good thing.
I do not think cell phones should be illegal, but then again I do think many people should not be allowed to drive...
and have their license revoked
The breaking reaction time was 20% lower, but they gave themselves 30% more following distance. Is that overall a net gain in safety? Someone should work out the math on that...
"That which does not kill us makes us stranger." -Trevor Goodchild
Actually, that's done world wide. There was an interesting thing in TV a couple weeks ago, where they were talking about the way they've been redesigning intersections in various countries to make their traffic safer. They've taken a lot of design hints from the US, to achieve better flow while increasing safety.
The only American part of that was that we've been putting more time and research into it than a lot of countries. There are a lot of places that have pretty much lawless driving. You see a lot of it here, where immigrants outnumber Americans. Traffic signals and signs aren't really rules to follow, they are just a hint that there's an intersection. Lines on the road (if they exist) are just decorations.
Laws like this are applied throughout our legal system too. That's why we have things like labels on everything that could potentially be bad for you. At some point, we passed the point of laws helping guide us, and have become the government being our caretaker. If you go read through your states laws, you'll see traffic law is a very small subset of them.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
are they sure that those people aren't just crappy drivers that are usually distracted by something else?