Slashdot Mirror
How Walking With Smartphones May Have Changed Pedestrian Etiquette
An anonymous reader writes The phenomenon of 'distracted walking' — pedestrians who walk while using smartphones — has raised civic attention in the last few years, with Utah issuing fines and cities in China creating dedicated 'smartphone lanes' for walkers who need to keep up with Whatsapp on the move. This article argues that smartphone users have become so accustomed to other people getting out of their way that they will no longer negotiate for sidewalk space even when not using their phones.
When my wife and I were fairly new as a couple she would get annoyed when I would precede her through crowds. What she came to realize though, was that since my work takes me into secondary schools and I have to navigate halls between periods, I've had to become a master of the Morpheus Walk, referring to the scene in The Matrix where Fishburne's character is teaching Neo of the risks of agents in the Matrix, and the crowd parts for him while Reeves' character is colliding with all of the simulated people. I'm also fairly tall, and I'm able to put on a demeanor that usually gets people to move out of my way.
Once she saw how much easier it is to navigate a crowd that way she has been a lot happier in crowded situations to let me go first. If she sticks close behind then she can follow easily and we end up where we want to faster.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I love walking in to people like that on purpose and then saying, "Oh... Sorry..." I secretly hope they drop their damn phone!
But the female place is behind the male (except for the minefields etc) - everybody knows that, so why was she upset?
Last week when I was driving to work as was approaching a traffic light that turned from red to green as I approached. I noticed a youth crossing the other side, head phones in and face down in his phone, slowed down in anticipation of him walking out in front of me. He did, I braked and blew my horn in warning and stopped and stepped backwards onto the central refuge and launched into a tirade of abuse and offensive gestures. Despite the fact I'd just saved him from serious injury at minimum as a result of his own stupidity.
You just cannot help some people.
I'm a special snowflake just like you. It's okay for us to use cellphones when driving but not anyone else. We are special and know how to do it safely. Rules are for other people.
Actually, it is the best way to get through a rough neighborhood. If you can walk tall, confident, but not swaggering or strutting, you can pass right through almost anything. You do have to weave around gang-bangers, you can't crash into them, but if you maintain the right walk they usually won't even see you, you're just background. If they're also walking, they always make room for me, I only have to weave around them when they're loitering. I've done that in most major American cities, and I've never had a problem.
In fact, the places I have had problems have been small towns, usually without sidewalks. Places where it doesn't matter how you walk, because there isn't enough traffic for it to matter.
As somebody who lived in rough neighborhoods as a teen, one thing I picked up on: You're actually less likely to get shot/stabbed or randomly assaulted there. A lot of people have some means of self defense. Picking a fight could get you shot, so people don't pick fights unless you're obviously walking scared. You're unlikely to get robbed in a drug neighborhood, for example, because most people either don't have anything to steal, or have a weapon, or will fight to the death over their last $2. There are people getting robbed, but the perp knows the victim, and knows they have drugs, or knows they have money that they're trying to buy drugs with.
The neighborhood where you might get stabbed over stupid shit is usually a University Neighborhood, the same place where you're likely to be assaulted by strangers. Those high crime neighborhoods, they're stabbing/shooting people that they know, and have a real dispute with. Don't borrow/loan money, don't borrow/loan drugs, don't arrange drug deals that might go bad, etc., and they probably won't involve you.
Take it easy there little fella. Boasting about your gun isn't gonna make your dick stop being small.