Should you walk and text while you do it?
September 19th 2010 21:14
OMG, watch out 4 that pole! Walking while texting is just too much for the brain to handle, a British scientist has found.
Dr. Joanna Lumsden set up a path where color-coded warnings flashed during an experiment at Aston University in Birmingham. Volunteers walked the course while texting - and most missed one in five hazards. According to Lumsden, anecdotal evidence shows at least one in 10 people in the United Kingdom have been injured while using their cell phone - by tripping, falling, running into something or failing to notice a car.
That was no surprise to many pedestrians outside Madison Square Garden Saturday.
"I've run into screen doors and poles, but I'm a clumsy person to start," admitted Michael D'Amico, 20, a student from Philadelphia, as he looked up from his phone. "I've just gotten bumps and bruises."
Boaz Munro, 23, a first-grade teacher from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, said he's managed to avoid a full-on collision despite countless near misses. "I've almost run into things - street signs, almost walked right over the curb, or run into other people - but I seem to catch myself," he said, trying to check his contact list and walk at the same time. "I think I'm good at multitasking. Or I've just been lucky."
But Jenny Recor, 23, of Astoria, said walking while texting doesn't have to be dangerous. Her secret? "I pause and look up often," she said. "People just get misspelled words sent to them."
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