This is my first semester at MU, and I am living on campus, so I frequent the streets quite a bit. I have been seeing something that is disturbing and frankly, annoying. I am a fast walker and sometimes I ride my bike to class and I often find my way blocked by people texting and walking. These people are looking at their phones, trying to process their latest text or send a witty reply, and their walking is often affected.
First, you have the turtle — that person who is so busy updating their status that the signal from his/her brain to feet runs at about 50 percent normal speed. The turtle is fairly easy to spot, is looking up constantly trying to orient him/herself but moving more slowly than most people on the street care for. You really need to keep up with the pack, no one likes that grandma who drives 50 on the road that is 65. Walking that slowly is unacceptable, unless you are playing Humans vs. Zombies and REALLY getting into your zombie character.
Secondly, you have the drifter. This person may or may not be walking slowly, but he/she always seem to drift into the middle of the sidewalk, or right in the way of where you were conveniently going to cut around a big group of people when riding your bike. Pretty soon the drifter is on the edge of the sidewalk and practically falling into traffic. Recover, straighten path, repeat.
I seriously think that your friend is not going to hate you if you don’t reply in the same millisecond you get his or her text. Did you even notice the nice weather this past week, or that hawk that just flew through campus? (It was by the Agriculture building, in case you wanted to know). More importantly, these people are putting themselves and others into dangerous situations. I have seen people walk out into crosswalks without looking up at all to look for cars. I think we’ve all see the video of the woman who was walking while texting and ends up falling into a mall fountain. Don’t be that person. For bike riders, these people can be especially dangerous, because they will begin to turn or walk right into the biker’s path on the already crowded sidewalk.
I once saw a picture of people texting while crossing a street that said: “Why do you fear a zombie apocalypse? You’re already in one.” We treat our phones like technological extensions of our bodies, like we couldn’t live without them. I love the moments in my day when I see one of my friends on the street and we are able to stop and chat. You miss out on those moments if you are trying to have a relationship with your cellphone. Take a moment and look around: I can promise you the people on the street are much more interesting than any text message you will receive. There is a man in a monkey mask who plays an accordion in the Speakers Circle. Really.
—Georgianna Victor,
grvkw8@mail.missouri.edu