Get your face out of your device

There are so many times that I have watched someone that doesn’t look where they are going because they are spending too much time looking at their device. The latest was on the subway and there was a guy that was walking back and forth on the subway and all he was doing was looking at his device. Well, he ended up getting off at the same stop that we did, and there are electronic gates that let you leave the station and the one he headed for was out of service. Well because he had his face in his device he was immediately stopped because the gate didn’t open for him. He wanted to quickly go into the next gate area, which is where I was, and I let him know that he had to “WAIT”. When you are in areas where there are lots of people or things that can impact your movement, get your face out of your device and make sure you know your environment.

This is just one of many situations that I have seen while commuting or even while in the car. There are too many times when I have seen someone start to cross a road because they think that the traffic has stopped, to only find out that they are the ones that are causing the issue. People have to remember that when they are walking where there are others around them, they need to pay attention to their surroundings and not think that everyone is going to jump out of their way because they are busy on their device.

Being away of our surroundings is something that is very important because you don’t know who around you might have challenges that you cannot accommodate if you are not looking where you are going. There are so many with limited visibility or mobility that making sure you are aware of your surroundings is very important.

Our devices have started to take over our lives, and we need to understand that we need to look up when we are moving around because we need to see where we are going and what obstacles are in front of us. It was bad enough when people were talking on their devices and walking, and they didn’t see beside them now with all the various games and chats that are available it has made moving around with our devices so much more of a distraction.

So next time you are moving around with your device, and you think about having that chat or play that game, remember that you need to get your face out of your device so that you don’t hurt yourself or others because you were distracted. If I chat is that important, maybe stop for a couple of minutes to have the chat, and then you can continue where you were going.