Distracted walking

[Jimbo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...stmas-Day.html

The real tragedy of this is that it was so STUPID and so d@mned avoidable. I know that's not the PC thing to say, but it's the truth. This is not the first time this has happened at those cliffs. A couple years ago, a woman also fell to her death while trying to take a selfie there. I know those cliffs very well. There are warning signs posted.

Also a couple years ago, a young man was so engrossed in his iPhone that he absentmindedly ducked under a lowered train crossing gate that was dinging, and walked diagonally towards the train tracks in the path of an oncoming train. People were yelling at him, but he didn't notice. The train couldn't stop, and he was struck and killed. This wasn't a suicide; he had been completely focused on his phone. The area is wide open, so anyone even half-awake would have seen and heard the train, which was blaring its horn at him.

I don't need to say that this is an epidemic (which it is), but I will say that the only positive in this, if there is any, is that these people weren't driving.

[bawang]

natural selection

[David Jamieson]

survival of the fittest.

[MarathonTmatt]

an epidemic for sure. have u seen this one, "I forgot My Phone" (people not being in the moment b/c they are on their cell phones)-

https://youtu.be/OINa46HeWg8

[boxerbilly]

That's life now Matt. That was a real good video.

I still use an old ass LG that fits in my pocket. I cant surf the web on it. If you want to chit chat, you will have to call. I don't text. In fact I had the service shut off. My ringer also sounds as close to a traditional phone ringing as I could set it. I get odd looks when it rings. I don't care.

[bawang]

i am too poar to afford iphone so i am immune from such disasters

[boxerbilly]

i am too poar to afford iphone so i am immune from such disasters

My families cell phone bill is 270 a month. Im poor too.

Holyf----, you guys remember your parents yelling at you about long distance calls. Or even being on the phone to **** long. When I was 20 I racked up 3000 grand in LD charges calling back and forth NY to Ca.

Anyway, when I grew up if the bill went over I forget maybe 30-50 a month people would yell and scream. Now, we cant wait to pay 100 bucks amonth to walk around with the library in out pocket. Not me but the wife and kids do it. They have everything on those phones. Want to watch tv while sitting in the car ? Go ahead. Want to play Minecraft, got that to. Steam some youtube, sure why not. All while texting away. The seldom actually speak to anyone on the phone. If they do it is 5 seconds long. " Okay man, be right out " But then they will text that same person for an hour straight. TEXT ? Why not just call and everything you could type or shorthand would be resolved in 5 minutes.

If you want to type why don't you start a blog? Or join a forum? Or write a book ?

[boxerbilly]

It is tragic people walking off cliffs while using their phones. Showing them Jimbos video will do little to change their minds it is a bad idea to text and drive. Walk the edge of a cliff while watching JackSepticEye. "Wont happen to me, Im not an idiot. " Most likely reply.

Anyway, Im sure all of us do stupid careless stuff all the time. I notice as a get older I get perhaps more careless ? Or just more stupid. My memory , you older guys know, locks up. ****, it what was I going to say? It was there and now lost forever. I miss being 18.

[Jimbo]

I still don't own an iPhone/smartphone, whatever. Mine is a flipphone that I bought 10 years ago. And I've texted probably less than 20 or 30 times. Although I know I'll be forced to upgrade once my phone's battery craps out. TBH, I rarely even use my cell phone; I mostly carry it for convenience or emergencies.

This generation of self-obsessed tech addicts are trying to multi-task at everything and as a result are doing nothing well. It's been said that the average person today processes more information in a single day than a person in the 1700s processed in a lifetime. I'm sure that's true. But how much is processed well? Would an info-saturated kid whose main experience in life is having his face stuck in his iPhone all day be able to eke out a living in 1700s conditions? I seriously doubt it. I doubt they'd be able to function in the 1970s or '80s.

Everybody says how kids and young people today are much smarter than previous generations. But apart from SOME being more open-minded and aware of certain issues, I honestly don't think that millennials are inherently more intelligent than young people were, say, 40 years ago. They just have more 'stuff' and more information readily available to them. If the same stuff and info were available back then, people would have processed as much back then.

It's a bit scary and sad how so many people now choose to live their lives in virtual reality. When it comes to the end of your life, will you remember how you lived it, what you achieved, who you helped/loved/were loved and helped by? Or by how many selfies you took (that nobody else cares about), how many texts you sent, and how many online games you played?

[MarathonTmatt]

That's life now Matt. That was a real good video.

I still use an old ass LG that fits in my pocket. I cant surf the web on it. If you want to chit chat, you will have to call. I don't text. In fact I had the service shut off. My ringer also sounds as close to a traditional phone ringing as I could set it. I get odd looks when it rings. I don't care.

That is exactly what I have too, an old ass LG. I could personally care less about iphones, smartphones etc. it is an amazing phenomenon. My old LG does the trick... enough so I can be reached, even take some pictures (although not always the best quality)

[Jimbo]

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

By Lindsay Winkley:

'A Pedestrian who was hit and killed by a train in Del Mar Friday night was a teenager from Poway, the Medical Examiner's Office said Monday.

The 19-year-old was using a cellphone application to stargaze with two friends when they heard the northbound train approach near 13th Street about 9:15 p.m.

The teens were sitting on a bluff west of the tracks and two of them decided to get closer to the tracks to take video of the passing locomotive, sheriff's Sgt. Richard George said.

The engineer of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train saw them approach, and activated the train's horn and switched on bright lights as a warning, but the teens didn't move.

The Poway teenager was hit and died before he could be taken to a hospital.

The two friends, a man and woman ages 18 and 19, told officers the victim had been standing on the edge of one of the railroad ties and didn't realize the train could hit him from that spot.

His name has not been released.'

***

To be accidentally hit and killed by a train, while on foot and having all of one's physical and mental faculties, is idiotic. Getting hit while trying to get close to take video is doubly stupid. A train is on a fixed track; it's not as if it can swerve off those tracks and hit you if you're not on them. It may be insensitive to say this, but it's the plain and simple truth.

[boxerbilly]

I still don't own an iPhone/smartphone, whatever. Mine is a flipphone that I bought 10 years ago. And I've texted probably less than 20 or 30 times. Although I know I'll be forced to upgrade once my phone's battery craps out. TBH, I rarely even use my cell phone; I mostly carry it for convenience or emergencies.

This generation of self-obsessed tech addicts are trying to multi-task at everything and as a result are doing nothing well. It's been said that the average person today processes more information in a single day than a person in the 1700s processed in a lifetime. I'm sure that's true. But how much is processed well? Would an info-saturated kid whose main experience in life is having his face stuck in his iPhone all day be able to eke out a living in 1700s conditions? I seriously doubt it. I doubt they'd be able to function in the 1970s or '80s.

Everybody says how kids and young people today are much smarter than previous generations. But apart from SOME being more open-minded and aware of certain issues, I honestly don't think that millennials are inherently more intelligent than young people were, say, 40 years ago. They just have more 'stuff' and more information readily available to them. If the same stuff and info were available back then, people would have processed as much back then.

It's a bit scary and sad how so many people now choose to live their lives in virtual reality. When it comes to the end of your life, will you remember how you lived it, what you achieved, who you helped/loved/were loved and helped by? Or by how many selfies you took (that nobody else cares about), how many texts you sent, and how many online games you played?

I notice streetsmarts is a huge lose on many of todays kids. Of course with everyone is a winner, a facebook friend, a try any thing sexual, just keep adding. Maybe it don't matter ?

[Jimbo]

I notice streetsmarts is a huge lose on many of todays kids. Of course with everyone is a winner, a facebook friend, a try any thing sexual, just keep adding. Maybe it don't matter ?

A couple of months ago, I was walking back to work after a short break when, up ahead about 30 feet, I saw a homeless guy trash-digging by the curb. His pocket clip folding knife fell out of his pocket onto the sidewalk. He picked it up and started violently stabbing a palm tree with it, trying to get it to stick. He was acting erratically, mumbling and cussing loudly, stabbing the tree as hard as he could in sets of about 4 or 5 stabs, then seeing if it would stay in the tree. It didn't stick the first few times. Meanwhile, about 10 feet away from him was a restaurant with an open area out onto the sidewalk. It was crowded with young adults, but not one of them even noticed him. The only other person who noticed was another guy coming from the opposite direction. Finally the knife stuck.

The fact that he had a knife didn't bother me. Most homeless probably carry knives for obvious reasons. Heck, I carry a knife myself as a daily tool, usually a Spyderco with a 4" blade, almost everywhere. And it wasn't because he was homeless. It was his behavior. Now, he didn't do anything else, but I went around the guy with plenty of space between us, just in case. So did the other guy who saw it. Everyone else who were right there were completely oblivious. If he had gone berserk, he would have gotten a lot of people before anyone would have even realized what was happening. His knife looked like a cheap POS, but he still could have done a lot of damage with it if he were so inclined. In fact, most knives carried by street people and criminals are cheap POS's, but that doesn't make them any less potentially dangerous.