In NJ, they are proposing a bill to make texting and walking illegal.
I think fining the "walk-and-texters" is a great idea because they drive me nuts, and it is actually dangerous. I cannot comprehend why people can't live without their phones for even one second. I see kids getting off buses, staring like zombies at their phones, unaware of the world around them. Cars whizzing by? They don't even register it. They literally can't wait two minutes to get inside their homes before they answer a text?
Also I hate shopping in stores, because people on their phones continuously walk into me (and then look at me like I'm an alien). I see people walking around in cities completely clueless to the world beyond their phones. Whatever happened to being street smart and aware of your environment? And why does every message need to be returned instantaneously?
I get a pit in my stomach when I see people, but especially kids, with their noses stuck in phones, because most of today's teens don't remember what it's like to just walk, or just sit,or just watch tv, or just have dinner, or just talk, or just take a roadtrip, or just do anything--- without staring at their phones. They are chained to them.
They think they are free to move about, because it's not like the old days when we were stuck at home waiting for on a phone that was literally stuck to the wall, and yet, it doesn't look like freedom to me. Freedom to me is going outside your home and not having to jump and respond the second someone sends you a message.
And I think this addiction to our smartphones is going to have dire consequences on future social skills, and society in general. Every body is plugged in and connected via their smartphones, and meanwhile there's so much real life disconnection. It is a huge distraction, and one that can have dire consequences for those who don't pay attention in traffic.
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