Calls grow for smarter use of technology

THE next time you pound the pavement, you will almost certainly crash into walkers who have their noses buried deep in their smartphones. Texting while walking, or “twalking”, has become so commonplace that even a short stroll down the street can end up becoming anything from aggravating to lifethreatening.

With twalking on the rise and the chances of serious injury escalating, some believe we should be stepping up efforts to make walkers look up and pay more attention.

At the heart of the problem is the fact that twalkers believe they are able to multi-task. They are wrong.

When we try to do more than one thing at once, like texting and walking, our performance suffers when our attention shifts rapidly back and forth between tasks.

With some believing that an individual who is crossing the road while distracted by their smartphone presents just as much danger as a person who texts while driving, there is a growing need to step up efforts to get people off their hand-held devices while they walk.

The obvious solution to avoiding the many and varied dangerous situations posed by twalking is to not walk and text at the same time.

Yet that is easier said than done since people seem willing to risk their safety to satisfy a strong impulse to communicate matters which could most likely wait.

This is why there are those who believe that twalking, particularly when crossing roads, is so dangerous it should be outlawed and those who step out of line fined heavily.

But where would the line be drawn? Would simply holding a smartphone be the offence? Or would a quick glance at the phone be considered a misdemeanour?

Rather than adopting such draconian measures, others believe there are a number of quick steps that might be taken to address the problem.

Those measures include establishing e-lanes or bays on footpaths to allow those who want to check their screens to step to one side as well as advertising campaigns around street crossings to highlight the need to look up.

For those who cannot wait to stare at a screen while on foot, holding a smartphone up higher in their visual field so that potential risks stay in their vision is the least-bad approach. And taking frequent breaks from using a device to assess surroundings can also help to avert an injury.

For those who want to be on the front foot and avoid the many twalkers on our footpaths, perhaps the answer to staying safe lies in some form of defensive walking course. Until such a course exists, just watch your step.