There are times when I am glad to be free of the shackles of technological dependence, and today is one of them.
I have a mobile phone but it is not exactly of the cutting edge variety. Never mind stuff like GPS and Augmented Reality, I don’t have any games on it other than that blooming Sudoku nonsense which I’ve never understood the point of anyway. If I ever want to put a load of numbers in a grid I will do it on my own with a bit of paper to be honest.
What I am driving at here is that when I drive, my mobile phone may very well be with me, but I won’t be dependent upon it the way some people are. This is a good thing because I have less chance of driving into a giant trailer containing flammable liquids or falling off a cliff into a nuclear reactor.
The people who have told me this- in a kind of roundabout way – are from the University of Washington. They carried out research on a fairly modest sample of 384 people using something scary called a Cell Phone Overuse Scale.
Thinking About the Phone Too Much?
It all gets a bit technical at this point basically our good friends from the University tell us that you don’t need to be actively using your phone for it to cause you problems on the road. If you are too dependent on it – such as waiting for a call or planning your next move at Sudoku – there is also more chance of you coming a cropper.
So, there we have it. Having a useless old phone you can forget about is safer than having a smart, modern one you can’t keep your eyes off while you are driving.
Now all we need is someone to come with conclusive proof that having an old Spectrum at the the bottom of your wardrobe which you secretly would love to play Matchday 2 on keeps you safe from chip pan fires and rabid dogs and I will feel completely vindicated in my lifestyle choices .