Is It Worth the Pain?

Texting is the new phenomenon; there's no denying that. Most teenagers use texting everyday and some even use it all day. There are also those people who use texting while they are trying to drive. Most of those people would say that they are able to multi-task without harming other people because they are pros at it; the truth is, no one is ever going to be able to be akilled enought at texting while driving to not put themselves and others in harm's way. I am guilty of this dangerous act. Recently, however I was nearly the cause of an accident because I felt the need to reply to a text as soon as I received it.


As I was driving home from my friend's house one night I received a text message from a friend. Without even thinking, I reached for my plone to read it. As I looked up from my phone, I saw how I had drifted towards the ditch on the side of the road where a person was walking. If I had not looked up at that very moment I could have driven straight into the ditch or worse, hit the pedestrian walking along the side of the road. The rest of the drive home my phone stayed in my purse in the passenger seat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDLCmStIw9E&feature=related

The link above is to PSA about texting while driving. In the video, a group of teenage girls are texting a boy that one of the girls has a crush on. The girls' fun time is soon interrupted by the deadly crash. Throughout all the banging of heads on windows and shipping of the bodies, the girl who was driving and had the phone was the only one to live from her car. The innocent drivers of the other vehicles lost their lives because of this text. Achild is left with no parents and a parent has lost a child. The girl must now live with the image of her deceased friends and the guilt of robbing someone of their life for as long as she lives.

From all this we must ask ourselves; is replying to a message so important you'd risk your life for it? Is it worth putting other people's lives in danger?

Video Source: "PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad [HD]." Web. 27 September 2010.

Cellular Catastrophes

         

In the technology based world we live in the necessity for fast and easy communication is a must. This is where texting comes in to play. Relatively a recent invention, created in the late 90’s, texting has rapidly grown into the number one form of communication in the United States. Due to its convenience, it has become second nature to multitask this line of communication with other activities. Unfortunately, this means that we not only use this as a constructive tool, but also a destructive life altering machine.

Until the outbreak of texting, the number one cause of fatal accidents was drunk driving, until now.  We have managed to integrate texting and driving in to one big disaster. That’s right, multitasking is NOT always a good thing. In fact, in this case, it is over eight times more likely to increase our chance of having a fatal accident while driving.

Briefly think of all your friends and family; think about those of them that have been in your car before; think of how many of them drive and text. What would they do if you were to die all because you “had” to read that text? How would you feel if that happened to somebody you know? How would you live yourself if you were responsible for taking somebody’s life, even if you didn’t mean to? These may seem like harsh questions, but if we continue our reckless driving, we will be forced to find the answers.

Picture Source: "Zazzle." Web. 20 September 2010.  http://www.zazzle.com/anti_texting_while_driving_mousepad-144747311802460901

Text & Die?

Texting and driving is an epidemic that seems to be taking over America. Unfortunately I myself am guilty of this act. Texting has become one of the most popular tools for communication.

Despite the many benefits of texting, it has transformed driving into a very dangerous act. Not only is texting while driving a distraction to the mind, it takes eyes of the road and hands off the wheel. Car wrecks and even deaths are sky rocketing from people carelessly texting while driving. No text should be worth a life, but people appear to think its true.

I have seen people trying to text while going 80 miles an hour down the highway. Although texting is an individual act and choice, it has come to affect the lives of surrounding drivers. The problem is that texters aren’t thinking about the lives they could affect from their selfish acts.

Something has to be done about the ever increasing problem. More people are texting and driving everyday, which is only putting more lives at risk. A life is not and should not be worth any text message. If the increasing amount of deaths from this act doesn’t change people, I’m not sure what will.

Picture Source:://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/verizon-to-support-driving-while-texting-bans/