{"id":7390,"date":"2015-08-12T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=7390"},"modified":"2015-08-02T10:15:51","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T14:15:51","slug":"texting-and-walking-are-you-physically-in-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/08\/texting-and-walking-are-you-physically-in-danger.html","title":{"rendered":"Texting and Walking: Are You Physically in Danger?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Girl<\/a>It’s a common sight. People texting and walking.<\/p>\n

I admit. I get annoyed when I am walking in a big city and someone walks into me because they are texting on their phone. Everything inside of me screams, “Look Up! Pay attention! You are a danger on the street!” But are they?<\/p>\n

Ahhh, the pros and cons of texting while walking seem to be gaining research\u00a0interest.\u00a0So let’s begin with some good news.<\/p>\n

A group of researchers studied the\u00a0effects of mobile phone texting while subjects\u00a0walked and negotiated barriers simulating pedestrian traffic. What they noticed was that the people in the study<\/a> changed the way they walked.<\/p>\n

Specifically, they shortened their step length,\u00a0reduced their step frequency, lengthen the time during which both feet were\u00a0in contact with the ground and increased obstacle clearance height. In other words, they adapted their gait (walk) to the challenges of the environment caused by their distraction of being on the phone. Their changes kept them from walking into people or objects. It did take\u00a0the distracted walkers longer to get to where they were going than the “normal” walkers. But they were more cautious. I guess slow and steady was at work here.<\/p>\n

I know, it seems counterintuitive I feel like I am running in to more people who are distracted on their phones. And it is only one study on a small group of people. Others studies have observed people weaving, losing their balance, etc.<\/p>\n

The downside: Posture is affected by texting while walking. Our bodies are in a hunched position while our hands are texting away. This impacts balance. Your head down tends to make you weave more and lose\u00a0balance. It\u00a0can pull the spine out of alignment causing neck and should pain. Some have dubbed this, “text neck.”<\/p>\n

So the jury is still out. Meanwhile I suggest more looking up. If nothing else, a good posture is worth the change. And is anything really that important that you risk running in to someone on the sidewalk? A little more courtesy could do us all some good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a common sight. People texting and walking. I admit. I get annoyed when I am walking in a big city and someone walks into me because they are texting on their phone. Everything inside of me screams, “Look Up! Pay attention! You are a danger on the street!” But are they? Ahhh, the pros…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[3356,3355,99,3354,3352,93,3353],"class_list":["post-7390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-gait-changes-and-texting","tag-posture-and-texting","tag-technology","tag-technology-and-health","tag-text-neck","tag-texting","tag-texting-while-walking"],"yoast_head":"\nTexting and Walking: Are You Physically in Danger?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/08\/texting-and-walking-are-you-physically-in-danger.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texting and Walking: Are You Physically in Danger?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s a common sight. People texting and walking. I admit. I get annoyed when I am walking in a big city and someone walks into me because they are texting on their phone. Everything inside of me screams, “Look Up! Pay attention! You are a danger on the street!” But are they? 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Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7390"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7395,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions\/7395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}