Texting On the Move Makes You Walk Weird, Study Finds (cnet.com) 83
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University put a mobile eye tracker and motion analysis sensors on participants who walked and crossed a curb-like obstacle on the ground while writing or reading a text or talking on the phone. According to results, phone users spend up to 61 percent less time watching out for the obstacle, and bring their foot up "higher and slower" over the obstacle as they walked, adopting a "cautious and exaggerated stepping strategy" to minimise the risk of tripping. This tendency is observed most in users writing a text on their phones. "We found that using a phone means we look less frequently, and for less time, at the ground, but we adapt our visual search behaviour and our style of walking so we're able to negotiate static obstacles in a safe manner," said Dr Matthew Timmis, lead author and senior lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science. "This results in phone users adopting a slow and exaggerated stepping action."
Re:What's a kerb? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes. But it's a British curb, so traffic will hit you from the other side when you step off of it.
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Yes. But it's a British curb, so traffic will hit you from the other side when you step off of it.
Like in cricket when they bowl a kerve ball.
Re:What's a kerb? (Score:4, Funny)
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so what? (Score:3)
So what? Haven't we already observed this about people walking down the street while... looking at a map... reading some handout they were just handed... cramming in some last-minute studying for a test... reviewing the presentation they are about to give... or whatever? Is this really just news because we found out people do exactly the same thing while texting?
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couldn't just sit around and surf porn all day
So now he's walking down the sidewalk surfing porn on his phone.
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I've started to notice that only complete dickheads put the word science in quote marks like that. Big sign of having massive axe to grind, usually due to their precious worldview being threatened by impassive, disinterested research.
Which aspect of modern science is pushing your buttons, then? Probably climate change eh? This is slashdot, after all.
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Re: so what? (Score:1)
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So what? Haven't we already observed this about people walking down the street
No we haven't. Because the phenomenon in the past wasn't as widespread as it is now. Sure there's always been people not paying attention, but it's getting to the point where they are starting to become the majority.
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"Haven't we already observed this about people walking down the street while... looking at a map... "
Muggers in touristy areas have known to watch for this for years.
Phone Zombies (Score:5, Interesting)
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That's the name I have for them. I still wonder if they're slowly pecking out "Brains!" while they stagger along eyes down peering at their phone while they walk out in front of traffic...
This is the comment I came here for, phone zombies is what they are. Sometimes I play games with them, like casually altering my course to get in their way because it's not as if they can say "watch where you're going", I was.
Dodging phone zombies on escalators are pretty bad. While sitting on a train I've tried scanning for bluetooth connections, try to connect to see if I can make a message will pop up on their screen so they wonder what is going on and then pretend I'm like every other phone zombie. Or
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That's what this world needs! Collision detection apps that notify you on screen and in your headphones when you're about to bump into things.
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Too obvious, they'll catch on and switch it off. But sending short bouts of disinformation to crowded places does look like worth trying. And we can use the knowhow in order to have people accidentally end up in the shops that pay for it.
Not to forget the extra 'neutralization jobs' the CIA has outsourced to the marketplace.
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Not to forget the extra 'neutralization jobs' the CIA has outsourced to the marketplace.
To indian telemarketers perhaps?
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To indian telemarketers perhaps?
Oh, I thought they handled the torture jobs. I mean, aggresive interrogation.
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.. right. I somehow had in mind telemarketing as a tiny group removed from anything like 'support' or 'helpdesk' ...
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that's when the app switches to autopilot. It tells you to speed up, slow down, a bit to the left.
I can see you were walking as you typed this btw.
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That's the name I have for them. I still wonder if they're slowly pecking out "Brains!" while they stagger along eyes down peering at their phone while they walk out in front of traffic...
I learned to do this long before I ever got a phone. As a kid in the late 70s and early to mid 80s I read a lot of books while walking, especially to and from school.
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That's the name I have for them. I still wonder if they're slowly pecking out "Brains!" while they stagger along eyes down peering at their phone while they walk out in front of traffic...
I learned to do this long before I ever got a phone. As a kid in the late 70s and early to mid 80s I read a lot of books while walking, especially to and from school.
Obligatory XKCD [xkcd.com].
Study funded by... (Score:4, Funny)
The Ministry of Silly Walks.
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Naw, they walked away from the funds.
Wow. (Score:3)
Is this really the kind of stuff research grants are spent on? Can I get a grant to study the correlation between picking one's nose and eating it?
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Like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play.
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Are you saying it is not valuable understanding the subconscious actions of the brain and how we compensate for lack of senses?
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I don't think you will be able to get anyone to eat their nose.
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Actually there has been a study conducted concerning the picking of boogers and eating them in children and astonishingly, they found the children were slightly healthier because of it.
Another way to boos the immune system.
Pure research can lead to rewards we can't imagine.
Make your phone 'transparent' (Score:2)
Use what the camera sees as the screen background.
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Use what the camera sees as the screen background.
That's the best idea I've seen on Slashdot in weeks, and I'm including my own comments in that. Of course, life being what it is, that means there's already apps which do that [google.com].
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Any others? That one has some concerning permission requests:
to start notification service on start up
these are for advertising
Why do they need to be able to place phone calls for ads? And where's the ad-free version?
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I don't know of any others yet, but it ought to be a pretty easy hack with Xposed or something to just get it into Hangouts. Does the app actually fail to start up if you deny those permissions?
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I haven't tried the app. Coincidentally, I didn't try it because I rarely use SMS/MMS. If this were easy to get into hangouts, that'd be great. Ditto to other messaging apps (ex. signal, FB messenger, whatsapp, etc).
Re: Make your phone 'transparent' (Score:2)
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It's now the twelve goose steps.
"Walk Weird" (Score:3)
What a strange way of spelling "an asshole".
I'll be the one walking down the street slapping phones out of the zombie's hands, thanks.
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I'll be the one walking down the street slapping phones out of the zombie's hands, thanks.
I'll be the one pressing charges for assault and property damage.
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I'll be the one pressing charges for assault and property damage.
You'll be the one getting trolled by an internet tough guy who wouldn't slap a fly on the back of his own hand because it might make him cry.
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I'll be the one pressing charges for assault and property damage.
You'll be the one getting trolled by an internet tough guy who wouldn't slap a fly on the back of his own hand because it might make him cry.
Maybe, maybe not. I've met enough people like that in real life.
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Maybe, maybe not. I've met enough people like that in real life.
If he were really going to do it, he'd be out doing it, not posting on Slashdot about it.
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Maybe, maybe not. I've met enough people like that in real life.
If he were really going to do it, he'd be out doing it, not posting on Slashdot about it.
Got any evidence for that? The people I've known like that do both. Not surprising, really, assholes are assholes everywhere, not just in one forum.
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Got any evidence for that? The people I've known like that do both.
In my experience, more talk means less action, no matter what it is. People telling you their plans are usually just trying to psych themselves up, and will probably fail.
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Got any evidence for that? The people I've known like that do both.
In my experience, more talk means less action, no matter what it is.
My experience differs. Oh, some are like that, certainly. But not all.
iPod Zombies, now this (Score:2)
Back when the iPod first came out, I almost hit a college kid who literally stepped off the curb with his back to me, never checking oncoming traffic before he stepped out into an unmarked portion of the street (no cross walk or cross street). Sure enough he had white earbuds in his ears, and he was completely oblivious as my tires squealed on the pavement and I stood on the horn, swerving around him (there was literally no distance to brake). It was my first experience with an iPod zombie. Apparently no
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my tires squealed on the pavement and I stood on the horn, swerving around him
Yet another way to win yourself a Darwin award.
He *would* have won the award, but your driving ruined that opportunity. Now he's free to reproduce and pass on the stupid gene to his kids.
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Next time learn the lesson, grab the iPod as compensation for the dent his corpse left on your car and move on.
Never swerve. Brake if you must, but never swerve. You might hit an oncoming car and then it's your fault. If you roll over the dummy it's his own fault (at least in sane countries) and you can even get compensation for your car damage.
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Never swerve. Brake if you must, but never swerve. You might hit an oncoming car and then it's your fault. If you roll over the dummy it's his own fault (at least in sane countries) and you can even get compensation for your car damage.
The purpose of the law is to protect even idiots, so it's sane to make drivers responsible in situations in which there are typically lots of oblivious pedestrians, such as near schools, or even just in downtown shopping areas. People are impaired in such areas by many factors including distraction, time stress, booze with lunch, and simple stupidity. Stupid people are everywhere, but in places where they congregate in great numbers, it often makes sense to place additional controls on the operation of heav
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In Singapore, the driver has the right of way, but in the US, the pedestrian, no mater how stupid, is never at fault. The problem in my case was expecting a modicum of self preservation from an 18 plus year old before just randomly stepping off the curb. In this situation, it probably would have been ruled an accident, but thankfully for me, the oncoming lane was clear and I at least had enough reaction distance (maybe 12 feet at 35 mph or 51 FPS or about 0.25 seconds) to swerve into it and around him. H
Newer studies reveal (Score:3)
- Water ist wet.
- Summer is warm.
- Sky is blue.
Brought to you by Captain Obvious Science & Research Institute
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- Water is wet.
What does "wet" mean, exactly? How do we sense wetness? What is a reasonable way to measure wetness? How do different dissolved substances affect the wetness? There are very interesting studies about all of these.
- Summer is warm.
But how warm, and where is it getting warmer and where is it getting cooler, and by how much? This is an area of intensive study.
- Sky is blue
There used to be good questions about why it's blue, but I think those are answered. OTOH, I haven't seen any studies about sky blueness, so this example fails in the oth
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These are all biophysical and subjective at best.
Some would say that the definition of 'is' is subjective itself. Water is not wet unless you are touching it.
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How about instead of a picture-in-picture, just do a perspective-adjusted underlay that allows you to 'see through' the phone? Amazon's firephone with its extra head-position sensing gear might have been a good testbed for this, but I feel like anything
Does walking while you text make you text weird? (Score:2)
Higher step, exaggerated...zombie walk? (Score:2)
Isn't that sorta how zombies walk?
Re: Higher step, exaggerated...zombie walk? (Score:2)
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! (Score:2)
Go watch the video of the woman falling down the open cellar door in the sidewalk. And how many times have you, texting, did or nearly walked into people?
I don't text on my flip-phone, I talk to people....
Touch screen? (Score:2)