Just Call Them 'Textlemmings'

The phenomenon of pedestrians stepping in front of moving cars while texting furiously on a handheld device or cell phone may seem brand new. For Peter Norton, a University of Virginia professor who has studied the historic relationship between pedestrians and motorists, it represents only the latest chapter in an old story. [via Cellular News]

Every time you introduce a new technology, we have to figure out how it fits into the existing technological structure,” said Norton, author of “Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. ”

... Today it’s texting. A century ago it was reading books while crossing the street in traffic. Norton has several cartoons that illustrate that very subject - pedestrians with noses buried in books stepping in front of angry motorists.

“We’ll probably never know how big the problem of reading while crossing the street was,” Norton said. “But it was certainly an issue that was being talked about."

emily | 9:00 AM | Cell Phones while driving/flying/sailing |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/12/022021.htm