Multitasking Madness

Just because you’re educated, doesn’t mean you’re smart. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the higher your education level, the higher the risk associated with cell phone use and text messaging while driving. In fact, in Matt Richtel’s New York Times article “Driver Texting Now an Issue in Back Seat,” it was reported that “48 percent of people worry about a friend or family member driving unsafely. Of those people, 19 percent said the cause of their concern was multitasking behind the wheel.”

A poll taken by Nationwide Insurance of 1,500 motorists found that 48 percent of behind-the-wheel multitaskers engaged in such behavior because they felt “an urgent need to address an issue pertaining to school or work; 33 percent said they felt pressure to stay connected socially.”

Pressure to stay connected socially? For the time it takes to get from the grocery store to your house? It’s in your head, people. It really is.

The article infruriates me even more because it claims heavy multitaskers are like ‘explorers’, compelled to hunt and gather information incessantly. Does that make those of us who consciously choose to engage in safe behavior (i.e. not text while driving) somehow less inquisitive?

Puh-leez.

What did these people do before cell phones? Read novels while driving with one knee?

The jury’s not out on this one. It’s a clear case of irresponsible driving. Texting behind the wheel is dangerous.

Period.