I am currently doing a stint instructing at a public university. This goes, in some ways, very much against my grain since I am forbidden from carrying on campus. However, one does what one must, and it has given me much to think about.
I read a university wide alert this week in my e-mail that one of our promising young students died from injuries sustained in a car wreck on Tuesday evening. She was wearing a seatbelt and seated in the back seat. Neither speed nor alcohol figured in the cause of the collision. The driver was only on his cell phone when the vehicle swerved into the other lane and crashed head on into a truck.
Another article a month ago, noted that a student at the campus was critically injured while crossing the street, in a cross walk, by a driver who was texting while driving.
I read another article advising students to always carry their cell phones because a known sex offender has been seen stalking students running on university grounds.
At this point I should make my position clear on the cellular telephone. I blog. I am fond of e-mail, texts, phone calls, and even some chat sites that keep me in touch with my knight when he is off slaying dragons. I am not a technophobe. But I have a flip phone. Pay-as-you-go, drug-dealer-special type. I do not need to access e-mail from my phone; I do not need the phone to compute the tip at a restaurant; I do not demand photographs from every occasion. I'm not adverse to these things; they simply are not useful to me.
I do enjoy receiving e-mails and texts from my friends. But I also maintain a sense of perspective, I do not need to check my phone every three minutes. It is not that important.
While teaching, though, I have noticed that, among many folks, it has become that important. My students, before they have had my class***, are in the habit of checking their phones every two to four minutes. Even at 8am!
They allow the phones to ring during class. They text; they openly disregard the lecture because 'lol, so, like totally want to get coffee after this' is clearly more important than the upcoming exam.
But I digress. The CCW permit holders I know would not dream of checking their magazines every five minutes. We would not whip out our weapons in class. We would not allow them to distract us from our jobs. We would not be driving while brandishing and cause a tragic accident. However, if this suspect character in the alert did try something, we would be able to stop it. A cell phone will not.
And yet, we are forbidden from carrying this self defense device that only ever appears in emergencies but we are encouraged to carry an item that seems to cause such disasters such as automobile wrecks, widespread distraction, death, and injuries? I remain puzzled.
Accidental deaths due to distraction by cellular telephones: 2600*
Accidental deaths due to careless handling of defensive firearms: 789*
I'm keeping score, oh university mine, are you?
* According to a traffic study in 2005 done by the University of Utah.
** According to the 2005 death reports to the US Government, cdc.gov.
*** I have a policy, inherited from a much beloved professor of mine. If I hear it or see it, there will be a quiz. It used to scare them into turning them off. But just the other week, I gave three cell phone quizzes in the first 30 minutes of class. After two: I offered a minute during which to remove cells from their hiding spots and turn them off. Almost five minutes after that, 'ring/ring/ring'.
Alas poor Yorik's grade: I knew it well before it became an F.
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