Sure, Ajay Kadaba occasionally trips as he walks around the Georgia State University campus.
And there’s always the chance he’ll walk into a stop sign, collide with a classmate, even fall off the sidewalk.
He is, after all, doing a tricky balancing act: texting and walking at the same time. But he’s not likely to change his ways, collision or not.
“If I’m walking and my phone vibrates and I get a text, I respond with a text right back,” said Kadaba. “It’s just the way it is.”
Moving your feet, looking at your mobile device and trying to get from point A to B creates a modern-day obstacle course.
Just walking can seem so boring and unproductive, so 20th century. Sending or reading a quick text simultaneously can keep the workflow and social life humming along. There are just a few obstacles — lamp posts, telephone poles, parked cars.
“I’ve seen it all,” said Cayla Haney, also a senior at Georgia State, who thinks walk-and-texters are accidents waiting to happen. “I’ve seen people walk right into hanging wires and not even realize what they were doing.”
Let’s face it: We aren’t just distracted drivers these days. We are distracted walkers, too. And increasingly, as the walk-and-text practice gains more speed, accidents and mishaps — and even visits to the ER — are on the rise.
A growing problem
Much of the time, the practice can result in a minor injury, maybe a twisted ankle. Or just prove a little embarrassing, the way anyone might feel from tripping and falling, feeling like a klutz, hoping no one saw you.
But nowadays, others have mobile devices to capture those missteps. After a woman at a mall in Pennsylvania got so lost in her texting that she flopped right into a fountain, it didn’t take a video of her pratfall long to go viral.
But the injuries can be more serious, and they are reportedly on the uptick.
Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cell phone to talk or text, according to a study conducted by Ohio State University. That’s nearly twice as many as in 2006, said Jack Nasar, a professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State.
Nasar believes the actual number of accidents from texting and walking are likely much higher, since most of the injuries are not serious enough to require a hospital visit.
“Fortunately, we haven’t had anyone seriously hurt, but sad to say, it’s coming,” said Georgia State University Sgt. Kevin Potter, who is a member of the university’s pedestrian safety unit. “We see a whole lot of it and students will text and not pay attention. They’ll cross streets against the light. You name it, we’ve seen it.”
Texting while driving is a punishable offense in Georgia, but officers can’t ticket walk-and-texters. Potter said he does try to encourage students to put the phone away and pay attention. But getting that message to stick is no easy task.
“I know it goes in one ear and out the other,” he says.
And it’s a trend that will likely continue to rise, with mobile devices like the iPhone, Blackberry and Droid teeming with new, engaging applications drawing our attention.
Safer tech ahead?
Experts say the problem is a fundamental one: Texting and walking is a dangerous mix, and just another example of how we are trying to do too many things at once.
Thad Starner, an associate professor in Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing, did an experiment to study the effects of walking and looking at a mobile device.
Putting students on a track, he found those who were walking while reading text on a mobile device were three times more likely to veer off track than if they were simply walking. Listening to audio, however, didn’t seem to interfere with their ability to stay on track.
“One of things we’ve realized is that typing on a mini-keyboard requires a lot of visual attention, and because your thumbs are bigger than the keys, you need to look at the screen,” Starner said. “That makes it very difficult to do.”
Bottom line: Walking and texting is not like walking and chewing gum.
In making his point, Starner cites a YouTube video known as “Blackberry helmet,” a commercial spoof in which a man obsessively using his Blackberry knocks into various obstacles. Instead of changing his ways, he puts on a helmet — complete with an orange flag — to protect him.
“It’s very funny,” Starner said. “But it’s very truthful too.”
A helmet is likely not a long-term solution, but Starner does think mobile gadgets will evolve to better accommodate being wired on the go. He thinks devices will have more audio features, allowing people to listen and speak their texts and keep their eyes on where they are going.
One thing he doesn’t think will happen is that people will stop mixing technology and walking. Nor does he think that’s the way to go.
Starner, for instance, is wired in ways the average texter only dreams of. He uses a wearable computer with a single handheld keyboard, allowing him to type without looking at the keys.
That way, he can see the walk-and-texters coming, and get out of the way.
