Walking used to be a gentle saunter spent taking in the scenery. Now, it has evolved into a quickly moving forward stride, and an occasion for checking your text messages, Twitter stream, Facebook updates, and hilarious Vines. Sure, you're going to bump into a few people on the sidewalk. And maybe you've slammed into a few telephone poles and parking meters, too. But it's not that big of a deal, because that last tweet you sent was hilarious. What's less hilarious is when you wander into the street with your nose to your touchscreen and you're hit by a car.
Put the phone down. Everyday, nerds of the world just wander into the street while staring at a screen. These people are putting their lives completely in the hands of drivers. Which is fine if cars were distraction-free. But like the screen zombies, drivers also have smartphones keeping their eyes off the road. Guess who loses in that collision?
It's bad enough when you have the right of way and you're not paying attention. It's worse when you dart out between two cars into traffic while reading an email. Remember when your parents taught you to look both ways before crossing the street? At no point did they say, "Once you've looked both ways, just walk out into traffic with your eyes closed." Because when you step into the domain of the automobile with your eyes on a screen, that's exactly what you're doing.
Instead of becoming a rather sad statistic, put the phone down while you cross the street. You don't even have to put it in your pocket, just take it away from your eyes. That text, tweet, status update, or comment can wait for the 10 seconds it takes you to cross the street. You'll thank me later when you're not dead.
