Texting On the Move Makes You Walk Weird, Study Finds (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University put a mobile eye tracker and motion analysis sensors on participants who walked and crossed a curb-like obstacle on the ground while writing or reading a text or talking on the phone. According to results, phone users spend up to 61 percent less time watching out for the obstacle, and bring their foot up "higher and slower" over the obstacle as they walked, adopting a "cautious and exaggerated stepping strategy" to minimise the risk of tripping. This tendency is observed most in users writing a text on their phones. "We found that using a phone means we look less frequently, and for less time, at the ground, but we adapt our visual search behaviour and our style of walking so we're able to negotiate static obstacles in a safe manner," said Dr Matthew Timmis, lead author and senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science. "This results in phone users adopting a slow and exaggerated stepping action."

Comments

so what?

[Chuckstar]

So what? Haven't we already observed this about people walking down the street while... looking at a map... reading some handout they were just handed... cramming in some last-minute studying for a test... reviewing the presentation they are about to give... or whatever? Is this really just news because we found out people do exactly the same thing while texting?

Re:so what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dr Matthew Timmis at Anglia Ruskin University was told that he couldn't just sit around and surf porn all day. So this is what he came up with. Science!

Re:so what?

[PPH]

couldn't just sit around and surf porn all day

So now he's walking down the sidewalk surfing porn on his phone.

Phone Zombies

[draxbear]

That's the name I have for them. I still wonder if they're slowly pecking out "Brains!" while they stagger along eyes down peering at their phone while they walk out in front of traffic...

Re:Phone Zombies

[MrKaos]

That's the name I have for them. I still wonder if they're slowly pecking out "Brains!" while they stagger along eyes down peering at their phone while they walk out in front of traffic...

This is the comment I came here for, phone zombies is what they are. Sometimes I play games with them, like casually altering my course to get in their way because it's not as if they can say "watch where you're going", I was.

Dodging phone zombies on escalators are pretty bad. While sitting on a train I've tried scanning for bluetooth connections, try to connect to see if I can make a message will pop up on their screen so they wonder what is going on and then pretend I'm like every other phone zombie. Or even guess who's phone it is. I haven't had time to come up with anything more creative than that.

People are just so involved with their phones it is ripe for mischief and games to play on them.

Study funded by...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Ministry of Silly Walks.

Re:Study funded by...

[Tablizer]

Naw, they walked away from the funds.

Wow.

[Frosty Piss]

Is this really the kind of stuff research grants are spent on? Can I get a grant to study the correlation between picking one's nose and eating it?

Re:Wow.

[rmdingler]

Heh heh.

Like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play.

Make your phone 'transparent'

[fustakrakich]

Use what the camera sees as the screen background.

Re:What's a kerb?

[PPH]

Yes. But it's a British curb, so traffic will hit you from the other side when you step off of it.

"Walk Weird"

[grasshoppa]

What a strange way of spelling "an asshole".

I'll be the one walking down the street slapping phones out of the zombie's hands, thanks.

Newer studies reveal

[Qbertino]

- Water ist wet.
- Summer is warm.
- Sky is blue.

Brought to you by Captain Obvious Science & Research Institute

Re:What's a kerb?

[The123king]

No that's called a Googlie. It's liable to hit you right in the stumps and make your bales fall off. If you're lucky, you might get a snick on it and send it off to square leg. If you're unlucky, you might get caught at silly mid on.