Distractions And Distracts Research Paper

Although the title of the essay is In Defense of Distraction, Sam Anderson is attacking the culture of distraction. We are living in a culture where everyone is glued to technology and wants everything to come in a single instant. He mentions that humanity suffers from a serious poverty, a dearth of focus and attention. Distractions consume us, devouring our concentration, alleviating our boredom, and constantly pestering us. We cannot help the fact that we are so easily distracted; everywhere we go there, are bright neon advertisements, constant phone buzzes, and loud car horns blaring. We all will succumb to these inevitable distractions of society, Anderson states “We are, in short, terminally distracted” (Anderson 2). In Defense of Distraction

“Distracted driving refers to any nondriving activity that takes motorists ' attention away from the safe operation of their vehicles” (Leone). Every time a driver gets in a vehicle and decides to use a cell phone to have a conversation, either talking or texting, they put themselves and others lives in danger. The convenience a cell phone and the capabilities they offer have made them a substantial distraction and a cause of significant source of vehicle accidents and fatalities. There are three different types of distractions: visual, manual and cognitive. Cell phone use is the most dangerous distraction because it involves all three different types of distraction and plays a part in the increasing issue of distracted driving. Even

The amount of car accidents that happen each year continue to increase. This continues to happen because of the number of people who consistently drive distracted everyday. This is due to a surplus of reasons, however, many fall subject to driving distracted because they prioritize their cell phones more than what is happening on the road in front of them.

There are both cognitive and physical factors that contribute to accidents when drivers talk on their cell phones and/or text behind the wheel. The primary cognitive factor is that an individual’s attention is divided when he or she is paying attention to more than one thing at a time (Goldstein, 2011). For example, a driver’s attention is on the road and perhaps how far the car ahead of him/her is, but at the same time is also trying to read a text message on a cellular device. This divided attention reduces the reaction speed and driving performance of the driver because there are not as many cognitive resources available to focus his/her attention on the most important thing: driving. When the driver is processing

Using a cell phone while driving has become the biggest manual distraction while driving.  According to a study, conducted by The University of Utah (2013),

Last but not least, eating and driving. “If you are eating in your vehicle while driving, you are focusing on you food and not on driving.”(dmv.ca.gov) When you’re eating in your car you are unwrapping packages, re-wrapping food, reaching, leaning, spilling, wiping and cleaning yourself or your car. Those are one to many distractions for one driver

There is thousands of motor vehicle crashes every year. The leading cause of crashes is teenagers. In 2014, there was 2,270 teens ages 16-19 were killed and 221,313 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered by a motor vehicle. People ages 15-19 represented 7% of the U.S. population, but they accounted for 11%($10 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries. There are three main types of distractions. Visual: taking your eyes off the road; manual: taking your hands off of the steering wheel; and cognitive: taking your mind off of driving. Distracted driving actions include things like eating, using your cellphone, and messing with the radio. Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it uses all three types

Changing the radio station as well as dealing with children may be a distraction for the older age groups but texting while driving is one of the primary sources of accidents involving teens. Studies show that texting while driving takes your attention from the road for approximately five seconds at a time. Unfortunately, that is all the time needed to run a stop sign and collide into oncoming traffic. The problem that lies in most of these cases is that the person has been texting and driving for multiple months or years and believes they have “mastered” it, so to speak. They don’t believe this type of thing could happen to them. Alas, many people have that mindset, resulting in 1.6 million deaths and 330,000 injuries annually. They don’t find out that they were sadly mistaken until it is too

Nearly 6,000 people are killed connecting to the outcome of cell phone use while driving, according to Edmunds.com (7). Texting and talking on the phone throughout the time that a person is driving can have deadly consequences, but people still don’t seem to want to give up risking their life. There are many issues that can happen while on the road related to the usage of cell phones. It is important to stop people from looking at their phones while driving, because it is extremely distracting and not safe. Even hands free devices are not as safe as they seem to be. There have to be consequences for people using their cell phones while driving in order to improve the people’s safety. According to Edmunds.com, cell phones are known as distractions everywhere in the world and have created several concerns to several countries (9).

The use of cell phones and driving is an ongoing issue in today 's society. A large number of teens use cell phones while driving, and the number keeps going up every day. Whether it is texting, talking, or using their navigation, using a cell phone while operating a vehicle is considered very dangerous, and is the number one distraction in the US (FCC). In addition, in many states, it is illegal, and is followed by a hefty fine if caught. Trying to convince your teen against using their cell phone while driving is difficult because they never really seem to listen. The fact is there have been over 40,000 cell phone related injuries and deaths reported in the US, and the number continues to rise each year (FCC). Because our teens rely way too much on their cell phone, it is up to us as parents to inform them of how dangerous using cell phones while driving really is. Although our teens may not like it, we need to make them aware of the dangers of using cell phones while driving, and enforce a nationwide ban to eliminate distractions, and reduce the number of deaths on the road.

As many people may know, distracted driving has become more of an issue as the years pass. There are multiple different things that you may not even know could be causing you a distraction while you are driving. These things could include loose object rolling around on the floorboard, change jingling in a console or in a cup holder, radio turned at a high volume causing you not to hear other car horns or sirens, children or pets in the car, fixing hair and or makeup, too many passengers, making adjustments to things in on your vehicle, such as adjusting the mirrors or the seats, texting, or attempting to eat and drink.

“A distracted driver may fail to see up to 50% of the available information in the driving environment. You may look but not actually “see” what is happening. Focus of the driver is not on the road or traffic and it becomes difficult to handle phone and vehicle at one time. Cell phones during driving also reduce the mental capacity of drivers as they fail to concentrate on minor or major activities happening around them. Cell phones distract drivers' attention resulting in comparatively slow response to traffic signals and other related traffic events. Studies have shown the fact that breaking reaction time is also slower while talking on a cell phone during driving. The perception, vision, general awareness, and concentration of the driver are impacted while communicating on a cell phone during driving. Especially during bad weather or driving on slippery roads, drivers engaging in conversation pay less attention to these areas increasing risks of fatal accidents.

There are too many distractions in life as it is, are we so arrogant to think that we are such amazing drivers that we can do several things at once? Most accidents involving cell phones wouldn 't have happened if the driver wasn 't distracted. When we drive that should be the only activity we are doing.

One of the biggest distractions that I have is friends asking me to spend time with them. Whether they just want quality time or a chance to get something off of their chest and ask for advice, it can take up long periods of time. Reading a good book and watching a movie is one of my escapes and mental vacation, but once I start a book I won’t want to do anything else until I finish it. Another one of my significant distractions is texting, many of my closest friends and family members enjoy to text but, the problem is having to put what I am doing on my pause in order to respond. It takes me time to get my focus back onto task and all of those small pauses add up at the end of the day to a lot of time spent texting.

Driving in general can be hazardous. Driving and having such a distraction as a cell phone at ear, or ringing somewhere in a car, is ten times more dangerous. Not surprisingly, drivers who use a cell phone while driving perceive cell phone use by others as less of a threat to their safety as do non-users. A huge number of accidents caused by talking on a cell phone. During the last 5 years texting has become insanely popular. It’s a great and convenient tool because people don’t have to call person to just say ‘ok’ on that dinner invitation. The worst part is that many people still think that texting while driving just that ‘ok’ is ok. Unfortunately, even with traffic police enforcing those ‘no cellphone’ laws, individuals still neglect those simple safety concerns. People need to start understanding themselves how dangerous it is.