Distracted Driving Impacts

Moises Fernandez

Scholarship Essay on Distracted Driving

Passing by a nearby neighborhood intersection, I glanced over to the car that was stopped by itself in the street at a green light. In closer view, I assessed that the person inside had simply gotten occupied with their phones and never realized the light had already turned green. What I saw was a daily occurrence that practically everyone has witnessed at one point or another while driving. I soon wondered if it was normal for people to get so distracted from their cell phones even while performing dangerous tasks such as driving. This idea soon left my mind after; however, when I joined a South Florida marketing agency, that changed. While working with other marketers at the agency, I started to learn about the techniques that tech companies have been utilizing in order to attract consumer cell phone retention for as long as possible. All these new revelations resulted in me remembering the thought I had a few months ago. I then began to wonder what correlation I could find in my research between the addiction in phones and the goals of a marketer.

In 2021, it’s estimated that around one out of four crashes or at least 23% of all car accidents each year involve cell phone use – that is 1.3 million crashes. Nevertheless, when I read this horrific statistic, I was not surprised by the gruesome ending so many have faced in the hands of mobile devices. Due to my experience working for a marketing agency, I became aware that our devices’ software has been deliberately intended to draw our interest for as long as humanly possible. The issue revolving around distracted drivers is only amplifying as phones continue to develop into all parts of our lives. However, how can a compact 6-inch screen be the sole foundation for the increase in distracted driving in America?

After learning the backhand factors technological companies use to keep people on their phones for as long as possible, I have a unique understanding of the psychological phenomena that are terrorizing our streets. The constant vibration of app alerts, the nagging notifications on smartphones, and never ending posts generate a nightmare scenario of distractions. With a growing number of accidents being attributed to the same driving force inside the United States, we have to ask ourselves if we are okay with becoming another byproduct of attention-grabbing platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. While working at an agency, my goal is comparable to solving the same problem companies like Apple, Facebook, Instagram, and most recently, TikTok has spent millions on optimizing. That problem was figuring out how to get the most screen time retention on these apps, which determines an app’s power and influence in our world.

Long gone are the days where tech companies focused on selling their services to humans. Instead, tech companies realized that the real money comes from selling human data to other third party services. Companies like Google unsurprisingly enough make their main revenue source in the form of advertising through Google sites and its network. This is true for other apps like facebook and Instagram alike. When you open up an app like Instagram or Facebook or even do a search using Google, you have become the target of other predetermined services that have been meticulously curated based on your previous searches. This fact might scare people who value their privacy and free will, but it’s a reality that many American’s aren’t even made aware of by big tech companies. From the vibrant color apps used to capture your attention, the simulation of a connection with artificial people, and the data tech companies use to show the most relevant advertising; our mobile devices have become a data-driven slot machine. So it’s not a surprise one-quarter of car crashes result from distracted cell phone users.

Before I had any experience working at a marketing agency, I also wondered who would be a victim to the bright notification on my phone. But once I learned the marketing tricks that every app business utilizes, I recognized that it affects everyone the same no matter their race, income, or gender. Thus, the question that arises is how any mobile device owner can protect their focus, especially while performing dangerous tasks such as driving. The answer according to many experts is by promoting awareness of the problem. By recognizing the issue at hand and learning more about how our usage is used against us, we can spread the message and save countless lives during the process.