Part One-Teenagers and Texting
I constantly worry about the use of cellular (cell) phones by individuals who are texting while driving, especially our teenagers. Cell phones, as we know, can be very helpful devices, and also very dangerous.
Cell phones were first introduced in the United States in the 1990’s. We were very elated about the fact that we did not have to be stationary in a closed-in space or room to make a telephone call. This newly hand held gadget allowed our families to stay in close contact with each other. In fact, we soon realized just how much of a benefit they were to have on demand while being away from home. We were able to make doctor appointment while standing in the lobby of a restaurant, receive calls from our children’s teachers while on the job and much more. Try to imagine this, it is the early 80’s and you know nothing about a cell phone. You do have a stationary phone at home and you have given the sitter your mother’s home number as an emergency contact just in case something happened while you’re grocery shopping. Well, just so happen, “Murphy’s Law” would have it that an emergency happened with one of the children. The sitter tried to contact you mother to no avail. It is a life and death situation. The ambulance and paramedics arrive but they can not continue because they need the mothers consent before they can proceed, a yes or no answer would suffice. Needless to say, the child has a thirty minute window between life and death. He probably will not make it because the mother has only been away for about five minutes. The mother stated that she would be away for one and a half hour before returning and no one knows what grocery store she was going to and each one was thirty minutes away. Now imagine this, the mother has been away for only five minutes and she has a cell phone, that’s good!
On the other hand, cell phones are sometimes bad to have in a given situation depending upon its use. For example, it is not good behavior to text while driving. Anything can happen, for instance, you may run off the road into a ditch embankment, hit a pedestrian or run into another driver. If you think about it, I guess we can call “Texting While Driving” is the new “Driving While Drunk “syndrome. People, especially teenagers, do not realize how dangerous texting while driving can be until it slips up on us. It seems to be more of a hazard to our younger generation than it is to the older driver. I realize that there have been instances where texting has saved the lives of some of our school youth involving shootings as well as other life saving events but more now than ever, we here about our babies dying in frequent car accidents almost on a daily basis from our local and national news. Stephanie Jones, an 18 year old former graduate of South Lenoir High was attending Lenoir Community College when she became involved in a two vehicle accident when she veered to the left while texting. A confirmation of this information was posted in the Kinston Daily Free Press by one of our spokesperson for the North Carolina Highway Patrol service which read, “Stephanie Jones, 18, of Kinston, was texting on her phone at the time of the accident that took her life Tuesday.” Well, just this week as I write this paper, another teenager was lay to rest on her 18th birthday for the same reason, although not yet confirmed from the same high school which I too am a graduate of and it touches my heart deeply. The law makers of Raleigh North Carolina realized some time ago, just how dangerous texting and driving can be. They’d asked teenagers three years ago to “to shut off their cell phones while driving”. We all know, teenagers think they are invincible and nothing going to happen to them. At least one major study has found that, “with mobile devices now central to their lives, young people often ignore laws against using cell phones or texting in the car.”
Please click the link below to play the ”Gauging Your Distraction” game—New studies show that drivers overestimate their ability to multitask behind the wheel. This game measures how your reaction time is affected by external distractions. Regardless of your results, experts say, you should not attempt to text when driving.” You’ll find it amusing, challenging, and to say the least, truthful about texting at any age…it shouldn’t be done.
Thanks………………………………………..Comment to let me know how well you did.
I did not do well at all. :(
Da da da da daaaaaah da da daaaah “Clint Eastwood”
Works Cited
Dawson, Jon. Highway Patrol: Texting played a role in vehicular fatality. 19 September 2009. 28 January 2010 http://www.kinston.com/articles/accident-58664-texting-time.html.
Gabriel Dance, Tom Jackson and Aron Pilhofer. The New York Times: Technology. 19 July 2009. 20 January 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/19/technology/20090719-driving-game.html.
Gary, Robertson D. Kinston Free Press: Bill Seeks to ban text-messaging by NC drivers. 11 February 2009. January 20 2010 2010 http://www.kinston.com/articles/accident-58664-texting-time.html.
7 comments:
I really loved this post. It has a lot of information that is true and important to know. Many teenagers think that they are invincible and if they had regular information given to them about texting and driving like they do about drunk driving I'm sure that they would refrain from doing it at all.
a good post,people don,t pay attention to driving,and cause lots of accidents,so keep posting that type of information
i agree with not using thr phone ans texing while driving being considered of others is doing as the bible said,do unto outers as you would have them do to you.
Do you mind if I challenge other researchers to look at this issue? Very provocative. I enjoyed the post. Good job!!
Josephine,
Your article definitely makes one think about what he or she does in the car while driving. I love talking and texting on the phone but I am an advocate of not doing it while driving! I of course have done it before but I try not to. I have a good friend who is a first responder at a fire station and he says that many of the fender bender accidents or worse are caused by the driver texting and not paying attention to what is going on ahead of them on the road. I took the driving texting test on the computer and wasn’t very good at it. This should tell me that I definitely shouldn’t be on the phone while in the driver’s seat ever. I do think it is neat how you put that on your blog for us to take as a test! I think cell phones are important and don’t know what I would do without mine, they just need to be used at the proper time and place. I also agree with the teenagers and driving part of your blog. We have had three students in the last 2 years die from their own reckless driving. Being drunk and being distracted from other teens in the cars were the cause. It is so sad to hear when all of these things could be prevented with some common sense. I am not saying when I was a teenager I didn’t have my music up loud with my friends in the car, but we didn’t have cell phones (just pagers) so using them while driving wasn’t as big of an issue.
Cari Tester
Awesome job! I did terrible when I played the game. This is an interactive game that could and should be shared with young people. Way to go!
I couldn't agree with you more about how convenient cell phones are but they are also very dangerous. My brother works in the ER at the University of Michigan hospital and he is always telling me stories of terrible car accidents caused by people text messaging while driving.
I believe that it should be a law in our country that it is illegal to text while driving!
I really enjoyed this article. It really made me put things into perspective. I am guilty myself of driving and texting and I am not a teenager. I know personally that tecting and driving can cause accidents and fatal accidents at that. A teenager in my hometown totalled not one but both of her cars while texting. Texting is just as bad as someone eating or trying to put their makeup on. Again, I am guilty of doing this myself because it may be someone I really don't want to talk to and you just repply to their text after they cannot reach you by calling you.
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