Should Special Walking Lanes Be Built Exclusively for Phubbers?

In front of a shopping mall along Yanta Road in Xi’an, capital city of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, a walking lane recently appeared exclusively designed for phubbers—slow-moving smartphone users with their eyes glued to their phone screens. The lane is painted red, green and blue and is 80 cm wide and 100 meters long, with visible pictures of smartphones so that phubbers can quickly identify it.

Some think this special lane will make phubbers’ travel on city streets safer while making it better for those who do not use smartphones on the streets. Others believe the lane is encouraging phubbers to go even further on the road of smartphone addiction and thus puts them at greater risk.

A considerate method Fan Zijun (www.voc.com.cn):

There is a loud voice against having a special lane for phubbers that argues that it’s unfair. However, once the reason for building it is made clear, people will find that they have misunderstood the sincerity of this small project.

This special lane was built on a block devoted to tech-innovation industries, and it was set up by a shopping mall. Since there are many IT workers in the area who are used to looking at their smartphones, and there is a nearby parking lot, this special lane was built to warn cars to move slowly so as to defuse any risks to these phubbers.

We don’t advocate the practice of staring at phone screens while walking, but since this group is tangible existence that no one can ignore, there should be methods of coping with this situation. Currently, this is the best solution that the shopping mall could come up with to ensure the community’s safety.

Yang Yulong (www.eastday.com):

It’s wrong for people to have their eyes glued to their cellphones, especially when walking on the streets, but there are always some exceptions. For example, there may be an important or urgent phone call or an important message. For young people who are working hard in big cities for more opportunities of further development, time and efficiency are especially valuable. To miss one important message might lead to the loss of a business opportunity. Thus, not all phubbers are entertaining themselves while staring at their phone screens.

Since it’s inevitable for some people to use smartphones while walking on the streets, it’s absolutely necessary for supportive facilities to follow up. Since the lane is close to a parking lot, it can help to prevent phubbers from bumping into cars. At least, their lives will not be at risk on this lane.

However, this is not a replicable practice. To paint words like “special phubber lanes” on the streets is illegal in many cities. The lane in Xi’an is in front of a shopping mall, which is geographically special and is made out of a plastic track that is comfortable to walk on.

Safety is always the paramount concern on the streets. The habit of walking with your eyes glued to a cellphone is itself dangerous and bothersome to other phone and road users. Even if there is a special lane for them, if phubbers do not take care, they may bump into other phubbers on the same lane or even fall over onto the road. Thus, it is safer to get them to stop staring at their phone screens than to provide them with a special lane.

Don’t enable phubbers Ding Jiafa (www.rednet.cn):

I believe whether this lane was built by city administrative authorities or certain businesses to catch public attention, it is not a wise way to ensure pedestrian safety. Instead, it may abet the public in using smartphones on the road more often and thus cause more dangers in the long run.

Undoubtedly, the appearance of phubbers is a great challenge for city management. In order to eliminate potential risks, policymakers have taken measures to protect these smartphone users. However, the special lane reminds us of the lanes for the blind. They are quite similar in purpose, but smartphone users are not blind and they can observe their surrounding environment clearly. Therefore, they should take the responsibility of taking care of themselves instead of relying on specially designed lanes for their convenience. In my opinion, setting up special lanes for phubbers is in nature an encouragement for smartphone users to ignore their personal safety.

The special lane is totally open, thus it is not as safe as many people think. Even when phubbers walk on the special lane, if they are immersed in their smartphones without paying attention to their surroundings, incidents will still occur. So this measure does not eliminate safety concerns completely.

On the one hand, in reality, few smartphone users will use the special lane, as it is limited to a certain place and is too short. On the other hand, this measure will have people believe it is reasonable and right to use phones on the road and thus emboldening more pedestrians to use their phones