Sitting Through Green Lights

Early in the days of widespread cell phone usage, people were worried that phones created distracted drivers. Which is true. (One time, I was driving beside a lady talking on the phone who almost hit me, swerved onto a curb and into the grassy part of a store lot, then back down into the street and never even really looked around. She pretended like everything was normal. It was a masterful performance.)

Certainly texting has its share of ills and dangers.

But I think something else is happening. I’ve noticed many people sitting through green lights. It’s happening literally at stop lights, but also figuratively because of our phones. Our phones make us quicker to respond to all kinds of work situations, but maybe way slower to respond to our physical surroundings.

I wonder how many green lights I’m sitting through because of my dependence on my phone. My response time is slow and, because I don’t move when the light turns green, the person who is last in line will have to sit through multiple red lights.

It’s at least worth considering how our phones affect responses in our physical world. Our digital life is impeding our real world.

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