Social Commentary: Deaf to the World
Summary
The article “Deaf to the World” talks about youngsters absorbed in their cell phones or music players facing greater risk of accidents on the road. The authors supported their claim by having many arguments from different people. Firstly, these youngsters tend to use their hand phones and music players to text and listen to music while crossing the road. They could pose great danger for themselves as well as inconvenience to the other pedestrians. To further their claim, they conducted an experiment where they purposely ‘bump’ into people engaged by these handheld devices. The results show that quite a number of them failed to dodge them while some barely missed them. Worse still, most of them were unconcerned and unapologetic.
Commentary
In this modern age where most people own at least a hand phone or a MP3 player, some people uses these devices to such an extent where they endanger themselves as well. If you go to an MRT or cross the road, you would definitely see at least one person listening to his music player or playing his PSP. These may be keep the pedestrians and commuters entertained but too much of anything is bad. In this case, the use of handheld devices goes to an extent where they would cross the road while engaged to their handheld devices. Hence, pedestrians should not be engaged in any handheld devices while crossing the road for their own safety.
These pedestrians who listen to their iPods or text while crossing the road are mostly made up of the younger generation. Since they are more adapted to using this current technology, they tend use it more and they seem to forget about their own safety. These youngsters fail to realize that pedestrians who are distracted by their handheld devices endanger themselves.
According to a spokesman for the Automobile Association of Singapore, distraction from handheld devices such as mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players is one of the major causes of road accidents.
While some of these accidents may lead to just injuries, there can be cases where this could even lead to death. This was the case earlier this month for Gino Shepherd, who was died instantly after being hit by the rush-hour train in the UK. Now, his parents are mourning over his death and are now urging other people to stop listening to music while crossing the road. Would it be fair to your loved ones if you died over some silly mistake?
Therefore, pedestrians should not be allowed to use handheld devices while crossing the road in order to reduce the chance of them getting into accidents.
Secondly, not only do these pedestrians endanger themselves when them cross the road distracted by their handheld devices, they also create danger and inconvenience to those around them. In the test conducted by a Sunday Times team to find out how alert people engaged in their handheld devices are, they deliberately ‘walked into’ people sending text messages to see how they would react and rang a bicycle bell to those who were listening to music to see whether they would move out of the way.
The results were startling as some bumped into the reporters while others only managed to dodge at the last minute. As for those listening to their music players, a number of them failed to hear the bicycle bell and didn’t get out of the way while more people were later found out that their audio player volume was at least 50 per cent. What is more startling about these results was that most of these pedestrians were unconcerned and unapologetic.
One person who was knocked down by a bicycle once because she did not hear it coming said that it was not dangerous to listen to music while crossing the road. Furthermore, she said that it was not her responsibility, but the driver’s responsibility to look out for her to prevent any accidents.
As Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister, once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” These youngsters must learn to take responsibility for their own selves. Blaming other people would not help if they become part of a terrible accident. Also, they create inconvenience to other people. Hence, they should not listen to be engaged in any hand held device while crossing the road for their own safety.
However, these hand held devices does provide entertain these pedestrians while crossing the road or while commuting. I personally listen to music while outside of my house. These hand held devices are portable and this should serve their purpose. However, I try to not use them while crossing the road.
Gino's sister Ashlee wrote: 'Never wear headphones outside whilst walking. It is for your own safety.' Will you listen to you music player or the advice of this girl who has lost her brother in a silly accident?
The article “Deaf to the World” talks about youngsters absorbed in their cell phones or music players facing greater risk of accidents on the road. The authors supported their claim by having many arguments from different people. Firstly, these youngsters tend to use their hand phones and music players to text and listen to music while crossing the road. They could pose great danger for themselves as well as inconvenience to the other pedestrians. To further their claim, they conducted an experiment where they purposely ‘bump’ into people engaged by these handheld devices. The results show that quite a number of them failed to dodge them while some barely missed them. Worse still, most of them were unconcerned and unapologetic.
Commentary
In this modern age where most people own at least a hand phone or a MP3 player, some people uses these devices to such an extent where they endanger themselves as well. If you go to an MRT or cross the road, you would definitely see at least one person listening to his music player or playing his PSP. These may be keep the pedestrians and commuters entertained but too much of anything is bad. In this case, the use of handheld devices goes to an extent where they would cross the road while engaged to their handheld devices. Hence, pedestrians should not be engaged in any handheld devices while crossing the road for their own safety.
These pedestrians who listen to their iPods or text while crossing the road are mostly made up of the younger generation. Since they are more adapted to using this current technology, they tend use it more and they seem to forget about their own safety. These youngsters fail to realize that pedestrians who are distracted by their handheld devices endanger themselves.
According to a spokesman for the Automobile Association of Singapore, distraction from handheld devices such as mobile phones, iPods and MP3 players is one of the major causes of road accidents.
While some of these accidents may lead to just injuries, there can be cases where this could even lead to death. This was the case earlier this month for Gino Shepherd, who was died instantly after being hit by the rush-hour train in the UK. Now, his parents are mourning over his death and are now urging other people to stop listening to music while crossing the road. Would it be fair to your loved ones if you died over some silly mistake?
Therefore, pedestrians should not be allowed to use handheld devices while crossing the road in order to reduce the chance of them getting into accidents.
Secondly, not only do these pedestrians endanger themselves when them cross the road distracted by their handheld devices, they also create danger and inconvenience to those around them. In the test conducted by a Sunday Times team to find out how alert people engaged in their handheld devices are, they deliberately ‘walked into’ people sending text messages to see how they would react and rang a bicycle bell to those who were listening to music to see whether they would move out of the way.
The results were startling as some bumped into the reporters while others only managed to dodge at the last minute. As for those listening to their music players, a number of them failed to hear the bicycle bell and didn’t get out of the way while more people were later found out that their audio player volume was at least 50 per cent. What is more startling about these results was that most of these pedestrians were unconcerned and unapologetic.
One person who was knocked down by a bicycle once because she did not hear it coming said that it was not dangerous to listen to music while crossing the road. Furthermore, she said that it was not her responsibility, but the driver’s responsibility to look out for her to prevent any accidents.
As Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister, once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” These youngsters must learn to take responsibility for their own selves. Blaming other people would not help if they become part of a terrible accident. Also, they create inconvenience to other people. Hence, they should not listen to be engaged in any hand held device while crossing the road for their own safety.
However, these hand held devices does provide entertain these pedestrians while crossing the road or while commuting. I personally listen to music while outside of my house. These hand held devices are portable and this should serve their purpose. However, I try to not use them while crossing the road.
Gino's sister Ashlee wrote: 'Never wear headphones outside whilst walking. It is for your own safety.' Will you listen to you music player or the advice of this girl who has lost her brother in a silly accident?
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