On Friday, I missed a subway train because a woman suddenly stopped on the stairs right in front of me to look at something on her smartphone. The woman was completely unaware of the people behind her. This irritating situation reminded me of recent above-ground encounters. These days, it seems, I often have to avoid colliding with people who are distracted by their phones.
In New York it feels as though we’ve crossed the line in the last few months. Smartphones have been everywhere for years, of course, but lately there seems to have been a shift in social norms associated with their use. In the past, we were more cautious about not bumping into other people when we used our phone. But nowadays, the unwritten rule is as follows: “If what I’m reading or watching on my phone is interesting to me, you are supposed to get out of my way, just as if I were a lamppost.”
The consequences of “distracted walking” are more serious than simply causing annoyance. According to research published earlier this year, injuries requiring emergency room treatment arising from mobile phone distraction have shot up in the USA. Some people have walked off bridges or into moving traffic. One man on holiday in a national park was so busy texting that he almost walked into a bear, and in Indiana, a woman walked straight into an icy river.
And so I’d like to invite you to join me in a simple, non-aggressive act of resistance, one that is designed to restore safety to our streets. The next time you find yourself on a collision course with a careless phone user, don’t give way. Stand your ground, and see what happens. I am not suggesting that you deliberately walk into the path of a distracted walker. And just to be clear, you should still step aside if they get too close. We’re trying to prevent accidents here, not cause them. But based on my own experiments so far, they’ll never get that close. Distracted walkers are aware of their surroundings, after all. They will eventually look up, steer themselves around you, and walk on. Hopefully, their awareness will be raised, and they will pay more attention next time.