Oblivious Texting is “Hazardous To Our Health”
by Darla Mack
We don’t need doctors or law officials to remind us that texting while performing certain actions may be hazardous to our health. Take driving for instance. We know that texting while driving is a definite “no no” and could result in an accident, but many motorists choose to take that risk on a daily basis.
In an article found on MSNBC.com, ER doctors continue to warn us of text messaging mishaps caused from driving, bike riding and even cooking.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has no national estimate on how common texting-related injuries are. But since 2005, the agency has received at least seven reports of serious texting mishaps, including a 15-year-old girl who fell off her horse while texting, suffering head and back injuries, and a 13-year-old girl who suffered belly, leg and arm burns after texting her boyfriend while cooking noodles.
Other reports include a 39-year-old man who suffered a head injury after crashing his bicycle into a tree while texting and a 16-year-old boy who suffered a concussion because he was texting while walking and banged into a telephone pole.
Since our attention is supposed to be focused on the primary task at hand, how is it that we succumb to the art of text messaging at the most inappropriate times. Is it because it’s something that will only occupy a small portion of our time? I mean some of us can compose and send a message in just a few blinks… but as you can see, that’s a few blinks too many.
Distractions as brief as 2 seconds can cause accidents or near misses while driving a car, according to a 2006 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Dr. Mary Pat McKay, an ER doctor at Prince George Hospital in Cheverly, Md., who has worked with the NHTSA, said similar lapses may be responsible for text-message mishaps during other activities as well.
image: Ariel Skelley / Getty Images stock
