The Walking Dead: I Don’t Underestimate Text-Walking

If you’re reading this through cell phone while walking, PULL OVER! NOW!

SERIOUSLY!

Walking shouldn’t be a complex activity in the history of human. You know, it’s just like that. But, along with the rise of Smartphones omnipresent utilization these days, the text-walkers emerge just to prove that people are somehow getting dumber.

Have I done text-walking myself? Of course I have. I’m not Cristiano Ronaldo, I’m a person too. But, I swear that I will never ever do that again because it’s totally a bad idea (as long as we don’t have special lane for text-walkers like in Antwerp, Washington D.C. and Chongqing).

Take it as my New Year resolution. The future (of human being’s walking behavior) shouldn’t be like this. Is this how we want our posterities walk in public?

I just hope that Indonesians in particular will consider this walking dead—you walk nose-down at your phone expressionless like you’re dead inside—phenomenon as a serious shit from now.

Here are some reasons why:

• It Symbolizes Lack of Empathy

People used to smile to each other, even to strangers sometimes. That’s the older version of Indonesia though. Now, it’s different as we don’t really care about surroundings anymore, we don’t respect people who are consciously walking behind us let alone noticing a starving kitten we might have just passed while text-walking.

A sign at College and Grove streets warns about the danger of texting and walking Wednesday during a campaign raising awareness about pedestrian safety sponsored by the Yale Traffic Safety Committee, Yale Police Department and Yale’s Environmental Health and Safety staff. Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register

• It Kills You

This is true. Have you seen the video of a text-walker who was almost devoured by a bear in La Crescenta-Montrose, Los Angeles? Good. Of course, we don’t have bears roaming around Indonesian streets, but I’m sure that we do still have motorbikes, cars, paddy cab, and most importantly—this may shock you—other people to be respectfully minded. I don’t want to lose people that I love because of text-walking (how lousy way of dying is that).

• It Tells You That You’re not A Ninja

I know it’s hard to process, but the truth is that you’re not a ninja. I’m sorry. It’s unlikely to see you falling down then in a snap doing the ninja-style flips and successfully avoiding injury or accidents then you throw a smoke bomb and disappear. That will never happen to us. We will just collide or fall. Either way, it’s shameful.

• It’s Annoying As Fudge

You may seem to be looked cautious while text-walking, but that do not stop you from veering side-to-side. As a person that may be walking behind you, I would be annoyed and usually ended up preaching “Fuck!” on the street soon after you’re veering side-to-side.

• It Prevents Me from Looking At Your Beautiful Face

Let’s face the fact that some of you have beautiful face which I wouldn’t mind enjoying the sight of it. That’s a grace from God. I just want to take a chance to smile at you as my effort to pursue of happyness. But, if you’re text-walking—which is not sexy at all—you’re just letting many people down for not being able to share the beauty, that’s for sure.

A fake road sign in New York designed by artist Jay Shells in 2012—Mashable

In February 2016, Pamela Lampitt, an assemblywoman of New Jersey, has introduced a bill that would ban any hands-on use of electronic communication devices while walking on the state's public pathways. You could be fined up to $50 and 15 days in jail if get caught text-walking.

It’s a serious shit right there in Jersey.

But, it shouldn’t be that extreme though. All we need to do is reviving the good old value of respecting others by; being focus on the people and obstacles, looking up—not down, staying alert, maintaining the volume on headphones, mind the traffic lights, and the most crucial thing is keeping our phone in the pocket while walking.