The ‘Deadwalkers’ Are Among Us

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I guess calling these people "deadwalkers" is nicer than calling them "moseying morons" or "shuffling sh*theads."

“It’s just really dangerous,” said Deborah Hersman, who heads the National Safety Council and is former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Everybody walking down the sidewalk either has their headphones on or is looking down at their phone. It’s a sad commentary on our society when you look at how distracted people are.”
 
How hard is it to just stand still if you need to use your phone?
 
They cross the street without looking, either assuming nothing is coming or they aren't paying close enough attention to realize they are in the street. Kind of scary.
 
Steve said:
I guess calling these people "deadwalkers" is nicer than calling them "moseying morons" or "shuffling sh*theads."

“It’s just really dangerous,” said Deborah Hersman, who heads the National Safety Council and is former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “Everybody walking down the sidewalk either has their headphones on or is looking down at their phone. It’s a sad commentary on our society when you look at how distracted people are.”
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I must say I'm rather taken with the third option you mention.
 
Headphones isn't that bad, unless they're looking at the phone while wearing headphones and walking.
 
You know this isn't the first thing that's come along that highlights how changes in human behavior herald changes in our management of the physical world. Look, that's one of the things that sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, instead of adapting to our environment we change our environment to suite us or engineer ways to avoid having to adapt. Heating and Airconditioning on the one hand, Warm Winter Clothing on the other.

So what's new? We are going to continue to focus our minds on other things not so immediate as where we are and what we are walking into. You can be like the author of this article and try to fight the tide, or you can tip your hat to human enginuity and figure out how make the world safer for cerebrial-pedundus.
 
darwinism continues to take strides in present society.
 
lcpiper said:
You know this isn't the first thing that's come along that highlights how changes in human behavior herald changes in our management of the physical world. Look, that's one of the things that sets humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, instead of adapting to our environment we change our environment to suite us or engineer ways to avoid having to adapt. Heating and Airconditioning on the one hand, Warm Winter Clothing on the other.

So what's new? We are going to continue to focus our minds on other things not so immediate as where we are and what we are walking into. You can be like the author of this article and try to fight the tide, or you can tip your hat to human enginuity and figure out how make the world safer for cerebrial-pedundus.
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Okay, so explain how a development that reduces situational awareness INCREASES our survivability or quality of life.


A closer example than the ones you cite might be smoking cigarettes. We found that we enjoyed the effects of smoking tobacco. We modified our environment to suit us--we engineered cigarettes that were uniform in design, packaged for freshness, and stayed lit easier; we installed ashtrays in cars, airplanes, restaurants. None of that changed the fact that smoking tobacco was a colossally stupid thing to do.
 
Commander Suzdal said:
Okay, so explain how a development that reduces situational awareness INCREASES our survivability or quality of life.


A closer example than the ones you cite might be smoking cigarettes. We found that we enjoyed the effects of smoking tobacco. We modified our environment to suit us--we engineered cigarettes that were uniform in design, packaged for freshness, and stayed lit easier; we installed ashtrays in cars, airplanes, restaurants. None of that changed the fact that smoking tobacco was a colossally stupid thing to do.
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Didn't say it did. But if people continue with this behaviour and efforts to modify that behaviour fail, then all that is left to do is re-engineer our environment so that is is even less important to be situationally aware. Just a crazy idea but, couldn't we erect walls so that you can't just walk out into the street. Pedestrian ways could be changed so that fewer "traps" exist for those who are immersed in other realms of our world.

I'm not advocating it. I'm not even defending it. What I am saying is that it wouldn't be the first time that man has changed his environment around his weaknesses instead of insisting that only the strong survive them.
 
lcpiper said:
So what's new? We are going to continue to focus our minds on other things not so immediate as where we are and what we are walking into. You can be like the author of this article and try to fight the tide, or you can tip your hat to human enginuity and figure out how make the world safer for cerebrial-pedundus.
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Uh yeah. NO.

We should NOT be re-engineering society and the physical world to accommodate a bunch of jackasses who can't disengage from their shit long enough to actually PAY ATTENTION to the world around them.

People who are unable to maintain a modicum of situational awareness and put their crap away when it matters are dumbfucks who DESERVE to die. They're mentally ill/deficient. We don't need dipshits like that in the gene pool.

The only problem is that they are likely to cause an accident that kills an innocent bystander/driver as well.
 
Quix said:
How hard is it to just stand still if you need to use your phone?
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I'd rather walk into traffic than have to be in the military again and stand still for "professionalism".

Not one professional I know stands still while on the phone.
 
It's pretty sad that we've become such raging pussies that walking and listening to music at the same time is now classified as dangerous behavior.
 
Wrecked Em said:
It's pretty sad that we've become such raging pussies that walking and listening to music at the same time is now classified as dangerous behavior.
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Walking and music is ok. Walking, music and inputting your latest turn on the free game of the week on your portable computing device, not so much. Wonder how long before one of these oblivious folks gets hit by a mass transit bus and sues the city. Or two moms out jogging with their kids in strollers run into each other because both were listening to music and playing games while running.
 
People (friends when I was younger, co-workers when I was older) used to give me crap for reading books while I was walking around on city streets. Now everyone else is doing pretty much the same thing, but I am the veteran at doing it safely while they are total newbs. Who's laughing now?????
 
Commander Suzdal said:
Okay, so explain how a development that reduces situational awareness INCREASES our survivability or quality of life.


A closer example than the ones you cite might be smoking cigarettes. We found that we enjoyed the effects of smoking tobacco. We modified our environment to suit us--we engineered cigarettes that were uniform in design, packaged for freshness, and stayed lit easier; we installed ashtrays in cars, airplanes, restaurants. None of that changed the fact that smoking tobacco was a colossally stupid thing to do.
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I'd say a good 80% of the people I interact with on a daily basis make me want to jump off a bridge... so decreasing my awareness of their existence I think increases my quality of life lol
 
FLECOM said:
I'd say a good 80% of the people I interact with on a daily basis make me want to jump off a bridge... so decreasing my awareness of their existence I think increases my quality of life lol
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I concede your point!


Next up on Point/Counterpoint--Google Glass or whiskey glass? :D
 
I go jogging with headphones. Seems to give me some better pace and I can go farther. But, it's a path, and I am paying attention to others on the trail. No, I can't hear if a bike or someone else is behind me, but there are no cars. I find that's normal for a lot of people.

Out on a sidewalk? Headphones are fine. Just pay attention when crossing the roads and have some respect for other people. Phones? I see too many people just completely consumed in their phone and have ZERO knowledge of what is going on around them. That's the problem.
 
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