Our cellphones are killing us

NY Post ^ | June 18, 2016 | Maureen Callahan

[upchuck]

We are, it seems, long past the moment where there’s nothing worth doing unless we’re on the phone — photographing it, uploading it, texting it, tweeting it.

And it’s killing us...

In 2009, Deborah Matis-Engle was sentenced to six years in prison for texting while driving — more specifically, she was paying bills online — and smashing into another vehicle, which burst into flames and killed the driver inside.

Just months after the crash, while awaiting trial, California Highway Patrol spotted Matis-Engle texting while driving on two separate occasions.

“This collision had absolutely no impact on her,” the prosecutor said...

According to the CDC, over 8 people are killed and 1,161 are injured each day in the US by distracted driving. Texting while driving is now the leading cause of teenage deaths in this country. Anecdotally, emergency rooms are seeing an uptick of injuries to “petextrians” — people who text while walking and have, say: run into a 300-pound bear (California, 2012), fallen into a fountain at the mall (Pennsylvania, 2011), or fallen on to train tracks (Pennsylvania, 2012)...

According to a 2012 Time magazine study, 84 percent of people around the world said they couldn’t go a single day without their cellphones. Clearly, they mean it...

Collectively, Americans check their phones 8 billion times a day. For the average person, that shakes out to 46 times a day. A July 2015 Gallup poll found that 41 percent of Americans check their phones a few times an hour. A Baylor University study found that the average female college student spends ten hours per day on the phone.

“That’s astounding,” said Baylor’s lead researcher James Roberts, Ph.D. “As cellphone functions increase, addictions to this seemingly indispensable piece of technology becomes an increasingly realistic possibility.”

[upchuck]

Bump.

[SamAdams76]

I am amused and a little frightened at the same time to tell you that yes, there is an app for that!

[ilovesarah2012]

I think they are an addiction but I don’t know why. I am glad they have cameras with video because I have a one year old granddaughter. But I use my phone for everything. I really don’t know what we did before cell phones.

[SamAdams76]

My experience with this technology is similar to yours. I'm not a "phone yakker" - in fact I loathe talking on the phone and try to keep any phone conversation under a minute (the women in my life don't understand that). Not a big texter either but it does come in handy when I am trying to find somebody in a crowd.

That said, smartphones are wonderful technology and I also subscribe to podcasts, listen to music, read books and take pictures with it. The apps I have are fantastic, such as approving and submitting expenses for work, booking hotel rooms on the fly, finding a restaurant and getting GPS instructions to get there, etc.

A few weeks back, I found myself unexpectedly in a hospital emergency room where I had to wait for several hours. Normally in these captive situations, I'm stuck trying to entertain myself with the crappy magazines on the tables or the dreck they are showing on the TV set. But I whipped out my phone and was able to keep up with the emails at work and also get a few chapters read on the Lincoln biography I was reading at the time. Those few hours flew right by.

[AFreeBird]

I have a Sena com system on my motorcycle helmet, paired to my phone. I’ve used it the same manner you just described. Siri is quite good at that.

[dfwgator]

We all have cellphones so come on, let’s get real
We all have cellphones so come on, let’s get real
Cellphones
Let’s get real

-Weird Al

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Tis the fool, not the tool.

That said, the technology exist to disable texting while driving.

[upchuck]

IF I were to get a cellphone, and it’s something I find myself thing about more and more, I’d want the simplest phone out there. Ideally the phone service would cost nothing until I made a call. And then it would be $5.00 per minute. Can’t find anything like that.

Then there’s the fact that you can never turn the phone off completely. You are always being tracked by the cell phone towers. How else can they find you if you get a call?

[US_MilitaryRules]

You can always borough someone’s phone! lol

[Tucker39]

Yep. That pretty well covers it.

[Nifster]

Unfortunately not. Rather like drunk driving the texted usually kills someone else not themselves

[entropy12]

Last year I had my first auto accident in 50 years of driving. Yes, it was a young man texting while driving and he ran into side of my car with his front end in a gas station! No one was hurt, luckily.

[Jim from C-Town]

True story:

I work in sales so my car is my office.

I pulled over on the side of a country road to do some texting and E-mailing. Less than five minutes I had both another motorist and a county sheriff stop to see if i was OK.

[texas booster]

And we all had new iPhones but no one had no one to call ...

Passenger, “Life's for the Living”

[texas booster]

The same has happened to me, and being in sales, driving (now) across a couple of states, some trips take forever.

[Ditter]

I love my cell phone. It has freed me up so many times from sitting at home waiting for something or someone. AT&T, the plumber, delivery person, etc. etc.etc.......

I never text, I answer a call when driving but don’t make a call.

Next to my Tahoe, and my a/c unit in my house, my cell phone is my favorite thing!

[Jim from C-Town]

I’ll talk on the phone while I drive. I don’t text or email, but I see people doing it.

[texas booster]

Technology has changed the way we live our lives, but we still communicate about the same amount. Just in very different ways.

When I was courting my wife (early 80’s) my landline bill averaged over $250/mo.

I got one of the first popular bag phones, and loved that the 3 watt power would allow me to call from most of West Texas - provided that I would park on a hill and use a roof antenna. About $200/mo after paying for the phone.

Then cell phones popped up and calls were 10 cents to 20 cents per minute. That motivated me to manage my calls. About $200/mo. BTW, large call centers averaging 1,000,000 minutes per day were paying between 5 cents and 7 cents/min.

Then texting became the thing, and as our children became teenagers they started texting rather than calling, as texting (up to a limit) was cheaper than talking. I still paid about $200/mo, but now I had two or three phones.

So today, when I look at the "cellular" bill, I see 4 phones that I pay for. My phone - about 4000 min/mo, 200 texts and 4 gb of data. My wife phone - about 1000 minutes per month, 300 texts and 2 gb of data. My 20 y.o. daughter - 150 minutes talking per month, 7000 texts and 6+ gb of data. Add in the purchase price for 3 iPhones, and I pay about $275/mo.

Our cost has remained similar through the years, but now everyone in the family has a phone. Our basic service remains about $125 plus LOTS of taxes, plus the payout for the new phones.

I blame the phone companies for offering “free” text plans aimed at kids, and parents like us that allowed “free” texting for the massive shift in how we communicate.

We leave in a few minutes for a Fathers Day dinner. I will be the only one that checks my email before we go (and FR), while everyone else just sends texts.

We still communicate about the same, just in a different way.

[ifinnegan]

You’re buddy’s a moron...

[Exeter]

“You’re buddy’s a moron...”

Are you speaking from personal experience? Go to the recipients of the Darwin’s Award and you’ll see his philosophy in action.