One Text Away

The omnipresence of smartphones is undeniable in this day and age; it comes as mostly a blessing, but unfortunately, it also comes with a host of ghastly consequences. In a day and age where everything seems to be one click away on our phones, it is hard for people, especially of my generation, to put their phones down. This urge does not dissipate in the time that we are driving. A dear friend of mine was driving to school one day while we were still in high school and he was running late. We knew every detail about each other’s lives because we would constantly be sharing them, however, the sharing did not preclude how much traffic there was that morning. We could not take even the smallest breaks from our phones and that resulted in everything being subject to change in a matter of seconds. He totaled his car that morning because he did not notice a red light. He was put into critical condition and by some miracle, he was able to survive.

This experience not only exposed me to the fickle mortality that we face as human beings but also how heavy the weight of our decisions can be. Teens and young adults often think they are invincible and that nothing bad can happen to them. Why would they think that using a device that seems like an extension of themselves would ever cause them any harm? The billboards? The statistics? No, that could never happen to me. I am a pro. This could not be further from the truth. No matter how natural it is to multitask and send a text even by barely looking at what we are typing, we can face disaster in the blink of an eye.

It is difficult to engrain this idea into young peoples’ minds unless they are faced to deal with it the hard way. This of course is not what we want at all; we want to prevent this at all costs. Nobody should have to deal with the potential loss of a close friend to simply learn a lesson. This is where the beauty of technology can also come in to curb the temptation that it has caused itself. There are now, more than ever, technologies such as insurance plugins, parenting apps, and driver settings in phones that can control the usage of our phones while we are driving. These technologies are available, and if we learn to embrace them instead of balk at them, we would save many lives, headaches, and heartbreaks.

These accidents, injuries, and deaths are all very preventable, and that is as bleak as it is inspiring. To say that it didn’t have to happen is correct, but so is “it doesn’t have to happen anymore,” and that is a much more uplifting way to look at the situation. We must learn to use technology responsibly, so we never have to come face to face with the damages that it can cause.