I chose this article in, The
American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal, because it is a
well cited source that I can trust.It
will help with understanding the psychology behind our obsession of and
dependence on the cell phone.I wanted
to find some information on who is using cell phones the most, what they are using
it for, and how often.This article is
full of that exact information.
I found this slide share on how
the mobile phone is effecting communication.During my research, this is something that I have thought about
often.While reading about all the
horrible accidents caused by cell phone use and how dependent we are becoming
on them, I wonder if it is worth it.I
know they are very convenient, but are they helping more than they are harming?This paper is very well cited and discusses
these very issues.
"I have been primarily
interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem
alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart
people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?" --Philip
Zimbardo
My research thus far has been
mostly about the effects of using a cell phone while driving.What I have realized is that there is a lot
of information out there about how dangerous this can be.So why do people still do it?Why do I still do it?I decided to do some research about why we do
the things we do. This was when I
stumbled upon, PSY BLOG Understanding Your Mind.It is full of well documented, scientific
research about how the mind works and why humans act the way they do.I think it is going to be a very useful tool
for my final paper.
I found
this article written in, Monitor on
Psychology, A Publication of the American Psychological Association.It has some great statistics and also
provides some excellent links on the subject of distracted driving.I had no idea that, “Creating awareness about research on driver distraction
has been a priority of APA's Science Directorate for many years.” (Paragraph 4) I trust
this author’s perspective because he provides good evidence to back up his statistics
and because it was published by the APA, which I have found to be a reliable
source.
I chose
to add this article to my PLE strictly because I really like the idea.Psychology graduate students from George
Mason University, “adapted a popular
racing video game into a portable demonstration of what it’s like to text
message and drive at the same time.” (Paragraph 2) After a few students drove the course using
their full attention, they tried it again while answering a text message.They found that even the kids who did great
the first round, did poorly when distracted by their cell phone.“This
showed them that it has nothing to do with experience — you can’t divide your
attention like that, no matter how good you are at driving.” (Paragraph 5) I would like this little test to be a
requirement to get your license!A lot
of states are working towards new laws that will make it illegal to use a cell
phone while driving, but this test or something like it, could be used to prove
to people why the new laws are desperately needed.
A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver
David L. Strayer, Frank A. Drews, and Dennis J. Crouch, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, Utah
So far,
this is the most thoroughly documented research that I have found on the
subject of distracted driving.I have
found several articles comparing the cell phone driver and the drunk driver and
while they all made sense to me, this paper seems to prove it.Their final conclusion was, “When driving conditions and time on task were
controlled for, the impairments associated with using a cell phone while
driving can be as profound as those associated with driving while drunk.”
(Paragraph 1)
Psychologists' research
shows how cell phones, iPods and other technologies make us more
accident prone and is laying the foundation to make using these gadgets
less dangerous.
By Amy Novotney Monitor Staff
February 2009, Vol 40, No. 2
Print version: page 32
This is another
article from, Monitor on Psychology, A
Publication of the American Psychological Association.It is full of information and research that
is being done on distracted driving.The
section that I found most interesting was on Psychology Solutions.They have found, “that providing real-time and post-drive feedback to
drivers on how well they're doing behind the wheel will help mitigate
distraction.With the help of eye-tracking technology, Lee's team has
designed an alert system that monitors what motorists are looking at and warns
them when their eyes veer away from the road for more than two seconds.” (Paragraph
20) This reminds me of the super
annoying beep that goes off in new cars when someone in the car does not have
their seat belt on.I have always been
one who forgets to put my seat belt on right when I get in the car.With the help of the annoying beep, this is
not an option.If this new eye-tracking
technology were to be required in all vehicles and it had the same annoying
beep every time I took my eyes off the road, I would never look at my cell
phone again while driving! Here is a video I found from a company who is developing this new technology.
After
some good feedback I decided to look into my topic a little further.I was originally interested in finding out
about new technologies, like hand-free devices, that make using smart phones a
little bit safer.I realized that I am
becoming more and more dependent on my phone every day, but every time I try to
read a text while driving, I can’t help but think of how I am putting my safety
at risk.So after doing some research I
have decided to choose the topic of using cell phones while driving.Is it safe or not? Why do we continue to risk
our own lives and the lives of the other drivers around us for the conveniences
of the smart phone?I read one article
that compares how a person on a cell phone while driving functions to a drunk
driver.They found that while on the
phone, even with a hands-free device, “the odds of crashing are the same when
driving drunk (at a blood alcohol level of .08 - the legal limit in all 50 US
states)”. (http://www.cartalk.com/content/science-distracted-driving)So why is this still legal?
