My blogger friend Cathy from New Zealand posted this anecdote on her Facebook page.
“I saved a young Asian teenager who wasn’t looking at the road status – too busy chatting on her cellphone – from being mowed down by a large 4-wheel drive vehicle. She actually following me as I stepped behind another car to cross, then I stopped. Fortunately I felt her shift around me and I put out my arm – she probably thought I was going to attack her!
We got to cross and she was still chatting on said phone when obviously the person she was talking to in another language told her to hurry and say “thanks” – and then continued on with her phone chat…
Those phones are a nightmare, I shouldn’t have to worrying about the body attached to them…”
The following really truly happens. Please click on the image for a larger resolution.
And it happened again. Just as I was about to publish this post, I received another cartoon in the mail from Bikehikebabe. Please click on the image for a larger resolution.
I don’t know how to text. I don’t even have a cell phone to text. And if I did, my thumbs couldn’t move fast enough. Landline phones are good, but most people have a cell phone number which isn’t in the phone book. Computers I can manage. 😀
I do have a phone, can text receive text messages and even use Whatsapp. But for all that, I too still prefer the old landline phones.
I’ve seen grandkids text & their fingers move like lightening. 😀
THUMBS moved…
And when their tongues do, it is worth listening too!
I had the privilege of hosting a teenager just two days ago at home BHB and I was amazed at the dexterity with which she operated her cell phone.
I do have a cellphone but it’s not one of those smart phones with all kinds of apps and so forth. I don’t have it in my pocket or hand – and sometimes I miss calls – but texts just stay there until I see “message received”
If someone calls me I do not continue walking up the road unawares I stop and deal with it…then put phone away and get on with walking to wherever…
However, I’m aware I’m not “in with the times” and I suspect if I was younger, employed, maybe even self-employed I would be needing it…and then too I could probably afford to run it.
But it this example that makes me feel uncomfortable “what say I had not stopped her, and she was injured?”
Good for you for saving her! She’s crazy if she didn’t learn something from the experience.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Surprise “Vacation”
Sure, you did the right thing, and it is a measure of current values that the girl did not even realise that her life had just been saved. She was so preoccupied!
Andy and I laughed out loud when we saw the Zits cartoon in tonight’s paper.
I don’t have a cell phone, and we blocked text messages on Andy’s. I prefer my computer for email.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Surprise “Vacation”
I use a mobile smart phone because my children insist that I use one. It is hardly ever used though and I too prefer the computer as the first choice to communicate by emails, and the landline telephone for oral communications.
I’ve read that an absurd number of people get injured (struck by cars or walking into/off things) while looking at their phones. I text all the time, but not while driving. If I have to send a text while I’m walking, I dictate it so I am not looking at the screen.
I found myself wondering how the fact that the young woman was Asian was relevant.
Secret Agent Woman recently posted..Road Trip, Part 2: Nashville.
SAW, we are of the older and hopefully wiser generations!
Yesterday I looked in the rear view mirror of my car and saw the lady driver of the car behind me keep turning her head to speak to her passenger. At the same time she kept glancing at her smartphone which she was holding on top of the steering wheel. I quickly pulled over before she started looking in her driving mirror to touch up her makeup. I think that it’s called ‘multi-tasking’ !
Big John recently posted..Dastardly King Dick’s Departure.
You did the wise thing. I also hope that you let her over take you and go and smash up someone else’s car.
I see people both driving and using their mobiles regularly. They must have near-accidents all the time. I never use my mobile when I’m driving, it’s for emergency use only.
And what Secret Agent Woman said about the Asian teenager.
nick recently posted..Toxic cake
The toxic cake post is quite interesting and I hope that you will find my comments worth mulling over too.
i could not even tell you my cell phone number. i use it for emergencies.
it’s nice to have if i have car trouble… or in an urgent call to meet with the marine or whatever. otherwise i don’t use it. i have a land line.
i find that first cartoon hard to believe. or more truthfully…
i don’t want to believe it!!! how sad we’ve become. like some weird autonomans walking around. i can’t spell autonomon. well…
lifeless robots holding onto a little piece of fake communication!
how’s that? 🙂
tammy j recently posted..i’m exuberant
Life is now defined by how cell phone savvy you are and what gadget and applications you use. I am ridiculed by quite a few of my friends for not making more ‘smart’ use of my cell phone!
Well, like every blessing…cellphones come with their dark side. My husband and I left a landline behind 2 – 3 years ago and are very pleased with the results. We each get our own calls and can get them anytime. I text because it is very important to stay in touch with my granchildren and that’s how they communicate. On the other hand we have rules: No phones at the table, etc. I must admit, tho, I am plugged in, wired, you name it…and I love the convenience. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying the world around me. (But sometimes I take my laptop to my garden and write while enjoying the birds and the flowers.
Mother recently posted..A Site for Remembrance
Although I am quite critical of the hand held cell phones invading our lives, let me confess that I am quite uncomfortable without it. I just use it like normal people do instead of what I see happening around me all the time with people glued to them.