Do Blackberry Users Put Others At Risk?
from the uh-oh dept
We've mocked plenty of stories in the past that claim that certain technologies are "addicting." Usually, there's no actual evidence, other than a practitioner who wants the so-called "addicts" to pay them lots of money to help deal with the so-called addiction. Also, there's usually no sign that it's an actual addiction or that the addiction actually is harmful to anyone. It just uses the "addict" label to get attention. However, perhaps we underestimated the "harm" of users who can't put down their Blackberry devices. John points us to a recent study that suggests some Blackberry users are so hooked on their device that they become oblivious to real world situations around them, perhaps putting themselves and others in danger. This includes Blackberry users who check messages while walking, driving or biking. Of course, the study is hardly scientific. It just collected some anecdotes from a small number of Blackberry users -- but does bring up an important point about people who are unable to relax enough to turn their devices off. If they're so connected all the time, they can occasionally ignore important events happening right around them. Perhaps that new Blackberry users' spa should focus not just on massaging people's thumbs, but also help them relax enough to recognize they can turn the device off every once in a while.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Absolutely!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Absolutely!
Seriously, I have no patience for idiots like you, if you're being honest. I'd purposly run you off the road if I saw you paying attention to anything but.... quit endangering other people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Absolutely!
But really you think your somehow better, if it was up to me that guy would get a hefty fine and I'd throw your license in the bin for the attitude, if you actually did any more than talk about it I'd throw away the key -- I think they call that attempted murder.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Absolutely!
You obviously have no experience with some of these people who write text messages while driving at 100km/h.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Absolutely!
please do let us know how they react.
I can see the headlines now "local hero pledges to save world from irresponsible drivers"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Absolutely!
I didn't say that the police will agree with my actions. You honestly think I'd be booked on attempted murder charges if I said, "I'm gonna run this idiot off the road," to a police officer? Get a grip. With the state of law enforcement today I could only wish they cared that much.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Absolutely!
However if you if you made an official statement of intent, the local authorities would be obliged to act and depending on the prosecutor you could be charged with any number of offenses up to and including conspiracy to murder, not attempted as all you have done is talk about it. you would have to actually run some guy off the road intentionally before you could be charged with attempted murder.
If your still unsure about the rites of other people and the dangers of running people off the road.
You should seek legal advise and maybe some psychiatric help wouldn't go amiss.
I hope this helped.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Absolutely!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Absolutely!
There is a limit to making the world safe, y'know.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Absolutely!
Matt and Brian have obviously failed. Let's hope THEY don't get together!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
college not colledge...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Turn if off and pay attention
Brian, whatever you're texting cannot be that important that you have to do it while driving. If you're driving pay attention to that. If you need to send a message or make a phone call, pull off the road and do that. The reason you have not gotten into any accidents may be because everyone else is looking out for your a** as you weave down the road (was yours one of the two cars I had to avoid this morning as they crosssed over the centerline?). As for the college chicks, parking and watching is better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I use my voicemail. I check it often, but only when I'm able to do so without interfering with the safe operation of the vehicle I'm piloting. I'm more interested in keeping my car, myself, and the drivers around me unscathed than hearing about how cool the movie you saw last night was. If it's important, I'll call you back. If you can't deal with that - tough.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cell phone drivers
I have been almost hit several times.
I acknowledge that there have been times I have seen people dive flawlessly even while on a cell phone.
My brother is one of them.
I have let him know that I disagree with him talking while driving, but until I see him do something stupid while on the phone, I refuse to hassle him more.
What annoys me though is the people who are all over the road.
There was some stupid b***h a week ago driving a freakin Hummer (H2, not the average SUV version thats out now) and she really was all over the place.
She got honked at a couple of times, and looked like she was yelling on the phone.
While driving in the fast lane she practically went off the road (fast lane side). By almost off, she had her right set of tires touching the grooves on the side of the road that make noise. About another 5 inches and she'd be off roading in the middle of the freeway at 85mph (speed limit 70 but in rush hour on I-75 here in MI between Detroit and Flint it gets pretty hectic on the way home).
I was shocked she didn't die, but if she did, as cold hearted as this sounds, I think it would have been for the best.
At least she'd only be taking herself out and not a whole family that she is likely to hit if she continues like that.
I love making the gesture to hang up the phone to people who cannot drive straight. Usually get flicked off, which is when they have no hands on the wheel, because they can't even put the phone down to do that.
Seriously, wtf.
I would love a law here that would give cell phone drivers tickets.
Sorry if you are one of the few who can drive and talk just fine.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If you're in a situation where you can't stop driving while you're on your device, your time management skills are poor.
If your reasons are business/professional related, then you are a social dependent... meaning you're unable to feel useful and fulfilled unless you're engaged into social interaction. That's chronic in my opinion... learn to have some separation, maybe have people leave some messages for later...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
techno addiction
Step 1: We admit we are powerless over X and that our life has become unmanageable.
Well, seriously, the definition of "addiction" has been abused so much that the term has become neutered. As the linked post asks, "Are we addicted to calling people addicts?". I think we are. But only because I take a strict scientific view on the matter and see a great danger in blurring a precise definition.
Interestingly there has been a revision from DSM IV to DSM V in that four stages are more usefully recognised.
i) "Use" - no negative consequences even with sustained indulgence.
ii) "Abuse" negative short-term consequences related to behaviour or feelings in the context of procurement and withdrawal.
iii) "Dependence" serious negative consequences related procurement and withdrawal with life-pattern re-structuring and serious behavioural changes.
iv) "Addiction" serious short and long term negative behavioural effects related to procurement, withdrawal and tolerance. Physical and psychological symptoms during withdrawal. Potentialy lifelong patterns of abuse.
There's almost nothing that doesn't fit (i) so we could, unhelpfully, say that any activity is potentially dysfunctional. Most of us become abusers of technology or show technology dependency (according to those definitions). But "addiction" is definitely not an appropriate word. Nobody will die or suffer lasting trauma if you take their mobile phone away.
If you are putting your own health and the safety and comfort of others at risk by *any* action, you are engaging in abuse.
Addictive-like behaviours are, at root, dysfunctions of apetite or other homeostatic procurement-reward cycles. This should be clearly distinguished from its converse, bullying/abuse *through* technological proxy by another actor (for example boss/spouse).
Both kinds of abuse may apply to an inability to stop a relationship (with a technological device).
If you cant switch the fucker off, ask yourself "why?" Is it because you fear something? A missed opportunity? A fear of losing contact with a social group? Or is it becuase you are seeking something? Some kind of payoff or reward that you were exposed to early in your use of a technology and you are seeking to recreate.
The pathology is not in the behaviour itself, but in what the motive is behind the behaviour. For example, if you *absolutely needed* your mobile device to obtain food (and there was no other way to eat) then by definition a constant use of the device could not be seen as a pathology, since eating is a basic need.
So, an "addiction" to social contact may be seen as less severe, since that is quite high on the ladder of human needs, than say an addiction to downloading music files or pornography.
Technology itself cannot be blamed for behaviour. It is by itself passive in the behaviour and by its nature enabling, it reduces the effort needed for the procurement-reward cycle, and humans are smart when they take the path of least resistance. It's the seeking of excessive rewards (beyond basic needs) that becomes a problem.
In the second case of abuse by technological proxy ( a better and more familiar phrase is "control-freak" ), one agent seeks to control another by controlling their supply of/access to a necessary resource. Pimps who hook prostitutes on drugs and "cheap-labor capitalists" who increase workloads for the same reward fall equally into this category.
The "victim" of this second type of dependency is active in their role. In almost all cases (except severe heroin addiction and the total withdrawal of food/water) they have the "choice" to say no and extricate themselves from the control mechanism. This is a function of the will, and the wisdom "It is better to die fighting on your feet than to live on your knees" applies well. Healthy "willpower", maintainance of appropriate boundaries and the ability to "say no" is something I think is declining in our societies. In Babylon we all suck helplessly at the whores breast.
So, we are not addicts. We become dependents. The only question is whether or not you are comfortable being dependent on something that is not within your control.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: techno addiction
i thank you very much for this post
i thoroughly enjoyed it
=)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The biggest issue with a Blackberry...
Personally, I hate people who talk on the phone while driving, and texting is even worse. Pull over for christ's sake.
I do use my BB for voice-prompted navigation, 'tho, but it just sits in the car's ashtray.
Chris.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Addiction? Balderdash!
(Misanthropist, is the APA DSM-V definition in a chemical or behavioral context?)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Addiction? Balderdash!
Behavioural afaik. I think the psychobabble used by that side of the mental health profession applies only to behaviour/personality. But it's interesting what you say about physiological addiction vs "obsession".
I guess that's what I mean by "choice" in my post.
Does the body rule the mind? Or does the mind rule the body? I dunno :) I'm no expert in Descartes philosophy of Cartesian dualism, but if you want an empirical study to laugh at try:
http://surveycentral.org/AdvStats/179.html
(Laugh because it's fatally flawed. Because one of the foundational tenets of the question is that it can't be decided by the mind. :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LOL
Actually, it's a nice tool indeed when I'm sitting in the car waisting on my wife to get out of the store.
Naaaa, It's ''work' for me - keeps me pretty productive, but I know when to ignore it!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Thank you!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's not phones that crash cars, its people.
What difference does it make if it's the phone, the radio, the kids, the spilled coffee, the sun in one's eyes, etc.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
They're tools, *up to a point. Opiates are a tool used by physicians to relieve pain, and it stops being a tool when the patient gets addicted to it, moves to heroin and starts robbing people to get a shot. I have no point, really, other than to say we should shoot addicts in their silly heads and feed them to the starving people of Africa.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Walking?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wakka wakka wakka
Also, Mr. Bennett, I don't know how you haven't been told this already, but the trick with crazy ex's is to set their personal ringer to 'Silent'. No muss, no fuss. (I can't help you when you get a million voicemails, sadly.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blackberry addict cuz they force me to be...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blackberry addict cuz they force me to be
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wow so informative
i thank you very much for this post
i thoroughly enjoyed it
=)
set from my blackberry handheld device, while driving, drinking my latte, smoking, changing my shirt, and getting a bj from my hot admin assistant!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LMAO!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
it's called labour law
You may be "expected" to, but you don't have to do that. You have a choice.
I have to even switch my blackberry profile to "phone only" at night in order to sleep without interruption from corporate email or others texting me
Sleep deprivation is widely regarded as a form of torture in the civilised world.
What happened to the day when your day off meant you were really off and able to feel like it??? I wish I knew of some law here in Florida that kept salary employees from working on their day off or working more than 50hrs.
It's called labour (sic) law, or employment law. You have that in the United States too. In Europe the mandatory maximum is 48 hours. Any time (part of an hour) you must answer a phone, pager or electronic device is counted as an hour for those purposes. There is a maximum number of consecutive hours you can work for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_and_employment_law
You also have other rights such as the right to solidarity (to form a union with other workers to mutually negotiate more favourable terms of employment aka "collective bargaining"), to paid leave, to minimum standards of health and safety, protection against unjustified dismissal (regardless of any contract you have signed to the contrary - you can't sign away your rights).
If any member of your company lies to you about those rights they may be guilty of a criminal offence (ie you don't call your lawyer - you call the police and file a *criminal* charge). Breach of labour law can close down a company in Europe and I'm sure the same is true in the USA.
Read what I wrote a few posts back and realise that you are a willing victim of abuse.
Seriously though, if you find you are being held hostage by a mobile device and think your health is suffering just use a microwave or a bucket of water - oopsy daisy, accidents happen. Nobody can ever prove sabotage if you do it carefully on your own property, though twice is probably pushing it. Better than that though - why not tell your company you are stressed by that and refuse to do what is outside the province of your rights, then if they fire you use Americas famous ambulance chasing philosophy and claim for work related injury? That's how things work over there isn't it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Prohibited in many states
I think the law has merit, however. Based on my own experience, it seems if the brain centers used in being vigilant while driving are pre-empted or blocked by having a conversation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
...ok....
The bottom line is that new technology is cool and some people want to be seen using it. But using a Blackberry when you are out at the bar at 11pm at night to answer work email just makes you pathetic. There are a very select few professions where round the clock availability part of your job description.
Give it a shot, try turning off your phone when you are driving home from work and see what happens. Worst case scenario someone tries to call you and they get your voicemail.
My one biggest piss off factor is people that use their phones or mobile devices while in line some where. When the lady at Subway asks you what type of bread you want for your sub, don't hold up your finger and ask her to wait....cuz my ass in gonna get right infront of you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blackberry Surprize
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Put it down
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
nice!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
blackberry's
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Well Done
[ link to this | view in chronology ]