The Siren's Call

The ancient sea-faring mythology told of the Sirens, the mermaids who would sit on the rocks and whose voices were so beautiful and enchanting that the mariners were oblivious to the dangers around and would inevitably sink due to their lack of attention.

I’m sure that this particular opening is not one that is so subtle that one cannot figure out where I’m going with this article.

In our society today we do have our sirens, and these ones are unfortunately real, they are the gadgets that we use when we need to be paying attention to other things.

Of course, the one that most people might immediately think of is a cell phone in one hand while driving. Although illegal and it results in a hefty fine, I’m amazed by the number of people that just assume it’s okay to have one hand on the steering wheel. Not that I’m trying to self-righteous. I have to admit that there were a couple of times that I did as well, and I immediately regretted it as when I disconnected, the “all around vision” of driving became clearer to me and I could see how much I had been distracted.

What I can’t understand even beyond that is how people can text and drive. If talking on the cell isn’t bad enough, then there are those who are not only having one hand on the wheel , but also their eyes are not on the road. A recent article was of some guy that was texting and driving and he had just texted saying “I better stop before I kill myself” and then plummeted off the edge of the road. Although he did survive he has a tremendous recovery ahead of him.

I’m quite sure that there are readers of this article that never use their cell phone and drive, and I honestly give you full credit. The problem isn’t just in driving though. I don’t know how many times I see people walking down the street texting, for a good 20 or 30 yards without even looking up. Some days I’m tempted to just stand in front of them and let them run into me just so that they can see how oblivious they are to their surroundings. This is more than just a little problem, it can be as deadly as using the cell phone while driving. There are many instances of people getting injured. In the US recently there was a woman who fell onto the subway track as she wasn’t watching. Fortunately, she just had some bumps and bruises, not like the pedestrian here in Toronto that was killed when she stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street and unfortunately didn’t see the truck that didn’t see her – and apparently she didn’t see it either.

There is something about technology that just draws so many of us to an instant response. We get a text message and there’s this insatiable need that we MUST RESPOND and we must respond NOW.

The real fault doesn’t lie in the siren; it lies in us for not having the good common sense that the text message that needs to be returned – can wait. That the tweet of something funny I saw could wait 10-15 minutes and doesn’t have to be sent immediately.

Perhaps that’s one of the downfalls to technology, it’s gotten us accustomed to instant gratification so we just think that everyone else has to be responded to just as quickly.

It’s either we wise up and have a little more common sense before we fall fate to the Darwin principle and those that catch on to this will result in a premature end to their particular gene pool branch.

Pass on the virtual ear-plugs and enjoy your walk or drive!