Nope.
Now, it sounds like I'm supremely frustrated with all the attention that's been given to this dangerous act. Frankly, I'm not - I think attention should be given to it. I'm just a little irritated by the way that the modern media pushes paranoia. But that's a post for another day.
While attempting to turn onto a busy street this evening, I had to stop and wait for a Jaguar to pass me. No big deal, I expect that whatever self-important person is driving this ridiculously expensive vehicle is obviously too busy to be paying attention to the drivers around them. As they pass me, what do I see? A middle aged woman TEXTING.
For the love of all that is holy, I expect this sort of vapid, empty-headed, moronic, suicidal behavior from a teenager - but seriously? Lady, I'm going to say this as kindly as I can: you terrify me. You are the reason I dislike driving anywhere, and you will likely be the cause of at least your own demise if not that of someone else.
Aside from the fact that what you're doing is absurdly dangerous, tell me just what is so important that you feel the need to put yourself in mortal peril to read it?
Seriously, what is wrong with people these days? (Dear God, I feel so OLD asking that question. Note to any buddies reading this: if I start yelling about kids being on my lawn, just take me out somewhere and give me the Old Yeller treatment.) As ridiculous as I feel for asking that, I'd really love an answer. Or at least some hope that this isn't the new normal. Kids, please, put down the phone for a while. Stop texting and talk. Conversation and interaction will not cause you to break out in hives. In fact, it will help you develop skills in the fields of thought and debate - a lost art in these days where most debates take place on internet forums and unravel into the slinging of mud and racial slurs.
But I digress.
My question is this: are we so incredibly dependent on mobile technology that we can't go more than a short while before we're obsessively checking Facebook, texting someone about something that can wait, tweeting inanity, ad nauseum? I know this sounds kind of hypocritical coming from someone with a blog (and multiple posts in a single day), but let me say this: my posts are written from the comfort of my home or seated safely at my desk at work. I'm a technophile, but this pushes the limits of what I consider to be reasonable.
You know what? If my phone were to suddenly die, if my computers all crashed, if my TV was stolen, if all I had was a book . . . I'd be fine. How about you? I seriously doubt that most kids these days could go a couple of weeks without access to at least the ability to text without suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Frankly, that's pathetic. So my advice would be this:
PUT. DOWN. THE. PHONE.
Focus on driving. Enjoy the sights. Listen to the radio. You might save someone's life, and who knows, maybe you'll rediscover the joys of human interaction and intelligent thought. Wut a nvl id3a.
Side note: I absolutely despise text-language. Internet acronyms, asinine abbreviations, and the replacement of letters with numbers make me twitch. (With the possible exception of their use when making a point, as above). If you write frequently, or even just post a semi-daily status on your favorite social networking site, do yourself and everyone else a favor and use proper grammar and spelling. Integrated spell-check has been around for quite a while, and that squiggly little red line is NOT there to say "Hey wow! This word is awesome!" It's mocking your inability to communicate.
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