Nearly all of the citizens of America own a cellular phone today. Cell phones seem to be one of the largest trends in today’s society. They are not only convenient in the fact that you are not attached to a wall, but now with new technology, we do not need to even call people to talk with them verbally. Now, instead of calling somebody to talk to them, we can send messages through text. This form of communicating through text is referred to “text messaging” or “Texting”.
Texting is very convenient and helpful in a number of ways. If you need to tell somebody something short, you can type it into a text message and hit the “send” button; or if you need to tell somebody something but you do not have the time to call them, a text message becomes extremely handy. Texting is so convenient and easy but the easiness of texting has made it a dangerous practice.
Text messaging has begun to fill up the majority of many people’s lives. Many people, including myself, text from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. This action, which seems to be becoming a sort of obsession, became extremely dangerous once people began texting at the same time that they were driving. Driving is already a risky activity which stimulates many of your senses in order to keep you aware and safe so that you do not end up crashing and hurting your self or somebody else. When you take one hand off of the steering wheel and convert your attention to your cell phone instead of the road, the act of driving becomes much more risky and dangerous. In 2008, 16% of all fatal automobile accidents were caused by the driver being distracted.
Distracted driving consists of three main distractions. These distractions include taking your hands off the wheel, taking your eyes off the road, and taking your mind off of what you are doing. Texting while driving consumes all three of these distractions. While being so distracted while driving, you are not only putting your self in danger, but you are also putting others in danger. Even if you are not driving, if you are texting someone who is driving, you are putting them in danger. For example, Amanda umscheid was texting her 19 year old sister who was driving. Her sister was replying to Amanda’s text when she got into a car accident which had killed her. Amanda can not let go of the guilt or sadness which she experienced on that day.
I believe that texting while driving is a very poor decision to make. If your phone buzzes while you are driving, it is normally not something so important that you cannot wait until you are off the road to look at the message. When you are driving and you pull out your phone to text a friend, you are putting yourself and others in a life threatening situation. Is it really worth it to risk your life just so you can quickly respond to a friend’s “hello”?
Sources:
You were supposed to write about text messaging while driving AND sexting.
ReplyDeleteHalf credit until you rewrite.
Also missing "ethics" label.
ReplyDeleteI liked it, but you didn't talk about sexting and driving. Very good information given though!
ReplyDeleteGood Use Of the stats
ReplyDeleteA little repetitive, especially at the beginning where you say texting/text messaging a lot, bt otherwise, really well written. (Sorry, I'm a self-admitted Grammar Nazi, lol.) I'll definitely come back to reread when you include the sexting, too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that text messaging has become so convenient and easy that we don't even give a second thought as to the consequences of what can be happening around us, especially while driving.
ReplyDelete