I read a report today from the American College of Emergency Physicians that was disturbing in more ways than one. Solomon says there's "nothing new under the sun" but I think it's clear that, although the basic problems are the same (aka. people caring more for trivial pursuits than for safety and common sense), parents today are bringing their children up in a much different world than they grew up in.
This may sound silly, but the movie Wall-E (WATCH IT! if you haven't) continues to resonate with me as a picture, not just of society in the future, but in the present. The movie magnifies the problems, but they are, in reality, already in existence.
Case in point:
“It’s tragic,” said Dr. Linda Lawrence, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), who noted that her colleagues across the country are anecdotally reporting cases, “among teens and young adults, in particular, who are arriving in emergency departments with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they were not paying attention while texting.”
“We see this every day, since we are [in] downtown Chicago, with lots of people walking around,” said Dr. James Adams, MD, professor and chair of the department of emergency medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. “People are texting and they trip and fall on their faces – usually people in their 20s. We see a lot of face, chin, mouth [and] eye injuries from falls.”
Even worse, said Dr. Adams, are the injuries that result from people texting and causing collisions with bikers, rollerbladers and others.
“Some [people] are actually on [Chicago’s busy] lakefront path texting while walking or exercising,” said Dr. Adams. “We see people rollerblading or biking while texting. They are usually very skilled but sometimes crash and fall when they are not watching where they are going.”
While many of these injuries turn out to be relatively minor, others are more deadly.
“In March, [we] were driving and saw a woman in her twenties step off the curb and get struck square by a pickup truck,” said Dr. Matthew Lewin, MD, PhD, an emergency physician at University of California San Francisco Hospital in San Francisco. “She was unconscious and it appeared she’d suffered a massive brain injury. You could tell she saw the truck at the last moment because her cell phone was dropped right where she was struck just off the curb, and she was thrown about 20 or 30 feet.. It was horrifying. The truck stopped. The driver was devastated. I was amazed to hear she survived all the way to trauma center but died [in] the ER.”
“The bottom line is to be aware of potential safety concerns and to simply exercise caution, restraint and good judgment at all times when using a cell phone or blackberry,” said Dr. Lawrence.
This would be funny if it weren't so serious. People are putting themselves in mortal danger so that they can use their thumbs and their feet at the same time. Who, in the past would, let's say, read a book while trying to walk down the street. Um, nobody. Who, in the past would not stop for a moment to jot something down that was important to remember. It's hard to believe that the "safe" alternative now, if you must multitask, is talking on your cell phone . This would certainly be true at least while walking. And why can't we just talk to the person with our voices that we are talking to with our fingers? And why can't we just wait until we get there and talk face to face? We need to start a revival of good, old-fashioned, face-to-face communication. I know it's not always possible, especially in the business world, but geez people... do we really need to bring ourselves to the point of injury for the sake of convenience!?
I don't understand it. I can't understand it because I don't text. I don't have a Blackberry and I don't have an unlimited texting plan. In that respect, I'm behind the times. But if being behind the times keeps me from running into a stop sign... or a truck, then so be it.
