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Emergency Room Visits From Distracted Walking Skyrocket (cbsnews.com)
schwit1 writes: An estimated ten percent of pedestrian injuries that land people in emergency rooms are due to distracted walking, a recent study found. That's thousands of people injured — sometimes killed. In San Diego, investigators believe Joshua Burwell may have been trying to take a picture of the sunset when he took a fatal fall some 40 feet off Sunset Cliffs. "A lot of people don't admit that they do it," said Dr. Claudette Lajam, an orthopedic surgeon. "It's getting worse as we have more and more features on these devices that we carry around with us that can distract us."
Last thing I'd want to see.
I wish they'd take a step back and let natural selection take its course.
At least reading Slashdot isn't dange^^&*((_-/... NO CARRIER
Since most of these distractions are probably smartphone related, and contemporary smartphones tend to have pretty substantial activity-logging capabilities and sensor packages, it would be technically feasible to get an 'aircraft blackbox' style snapshot of what was going on at the time of the injury.
Anyone know if you could get away with an insurance policy that demands such data, in the event of a claim, and then attempts to deny coverage for any costs deemed to have been incurred because of negligent distraction? Just think of how many claims you could deny with the right data...
I might just be tired, but it took me forever to figure out what a walking skyrocket is.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
It is the predicted Zombie Apocalypse. Leave it to darwyn and the problem will fix itself.
In all seriousness, texting while doing something else has become a conspicuous problem. Probably not worse than all of the other “problems” that have occurred throughout history whenever a new technology arose, but nevertheless something we’re going to have to adapt to. Texting while driving seems insane, and speech-to-text doesn’t help a whole hell of a lot. Then again, some people seem to have trouble adjusting their radio settings without crashing.
The interesting thing about texting while walking is that making a law about it also seems absurd. You’re not operating heavy equipment, just mostly putting yourself at risk of tripping. And if you injure someone else, then there are already laws that address the liability there. A huge factor here comes down to the individual’s talents at multitasking and using peripheral vision. I know that I can text while walking because long before cell phones, I’d already developed good use of both multitasking and peripheral vision, so like many others I have observed, I can walk and text and manage to not trip on unexpected obstacles, bump into other people, walk in front of cars, etc.
However, lots of people are not good at this yet insist on doing it anyway. That being said, this isn’t a lot different from many other risky activities people engage in that we can’t and shouldn’t try to regulate, like excessive alcohol, weed, unprotected sex, and driving while stupid. We can only address the after-effects when people harm others as a result of acting irresponsibly.
Have the device warn the user IF the device is in motion and having active inputs and getting close to an obstacle.
About the Distracted Walking Skyrocket?
Or...
A Distracted Skyrocket walks into an emergency room and says to the intake nurse...
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
Let insurance companies raise the premiums 100-300% and let government programs bill back the cost of the coverage to every source of incoming including food stamps.
It will just select the best face-in-screen walkers out there. Soon enough we'll have plenty people able to cross a busy street while playing Time Waste Saga without getting run over.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
Lovely Japanese take on the curse of distracted walking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Bump: 66% of people have run into others when using a smartphone while walking.
Fall: 3.6 % of people have fallen from a platform when texting while walking.
Trip: 18% of people have tripped when using a smartphone while walking.
99% of people think using a smartphone while walking is dangerous.
73% of people have used a smartphone while walking.
Please look forward when you are walking.
Using a smartphone while walking is dangerous.
Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
Natural selection.
Think of it as evolution in action.
This is no different than our ancestors from tens of thousands of years ago who didn't keep an eye out for dangers around them. They were removed from the gene pool.
That only works if it removes them prior to reproduction. Otherwise it's merely a tragedy, not a Darwin Award because they have not removed themselves from the gene pool.
It would be ok if everyone else does it too.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I would love a visit from a distracted walking skyrocket. It would boost my spirits.
Twinstiq, game news
In the good old days, people had trouble walking while chewing gum.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Welcome to the internet, you must have arrived here accidentally from the year 1993.
I read the headline the same way-- a walking skyrocket went to the emergency room while distracted.
I couldn't figure out what the heck this was about, but I figured it was a reprint from News of the Weird.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
it's far more likely to select those who don't bother with such things.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Is it any wonder that the iOS system predecessor was named .... Darwin?
Steve Jobs throwing some chlorine into the gene pool.
Have gnu, will travel.
Turn your camera on so you can see what is in front of you "through" your phone by making it "transparent"
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Require camera operators to obtain a license.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I hope the new version of Google Glass flashes a red warning icon to indicate the wearer is about to fall off a cliff
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
So, how many of you making the jokes about the walking skyrocket, who didn't understand it immediately, are reading this on your mobile device? Wonder if I can annoy you enough so that you walk into a wall while reading my post on a mobile....
You're idiots. And I'm just waiting for the studies any time now showing an epidemic of carpal tunnel from thumb-typing on virtual keyboards.
mark "no idiot annoyaphone here"
If everyone else distracted walked off a cliff, would you do it too?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Who says natural selection is dead
There should be a law!
No, there shouldn't. The cell phone is still, historically speaking, quite new. People will figure out that it's not smart to walk around with your face in the phone. But being human, we all seem to have to figure it out individually.
It wasn't so long ago when people would sit at restaurant tables talking out loud on their (dumb) phones, ignoring the people they were with. That trend has mostly gone away, replaced by people texting or playing video games at those same tables. It will wear off.
The "no news is good news" phenomenon is a plague. So long as the action does not result in a sentinel event (e.g. a crash, getting pulled over, an injury, etc) the experience is piled into the positive outcomes category in the brain. Over time one becomes overconfident. This can be applied to many things like driving, driving and texting, texting and walking, etc. The way to break free from this cycle is through objective feedback. Watch this for about 5 minutes starting at 18:15 and apply it to everything you do: https://youtu.be/gN40ddfEkoQ?t... for full nerd points watch the entire thing.
I am that dufus head who walked into Lampost.
Or am I the only one that becomes slightly annoyed with people who meander around while texting oblivious to anything or anyone around them. It's like a randomly moving slalom course at the mall.