Is this the beginning of a trend?

Forums: News, Human Interest, Mobile Phones, Darwinism, Distractions
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I've often had to shout or step to one side to avoid colliding with someone checking their mobile phone, and now this. Fortunately the woman didn't drown, but how long before someone does?

Is this just a modern manifestation of Darwinism?

Quote:

A Taiwanese tourist had to be rescued after accidentally walking off a pier in the Australian city of Melbourne while checking her Facebook page.

The woman tumbled from St Kilda's pier into Port Phillip Bay late on Monday night.

Police were alerted to the incident by a witness and rescued her in a speedboat after about 20 minutes.

The woman, who apologised, was taken to hospital for observation but police said she was fine.

Senior Constable Dean Kelly of the water police said officers found her floating metres from the pier.

"She was still out in the water laying on her back in a floating position because she told us later that she couldn't swim," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted him as saying.

"She still had her mobile phone in her hand and initially she apologised... she said 'I was checking my Facebook page on the phone and I've fallen in'."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25426263

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@izzythepush,

That kind of thing is not new with technology as Stephen King come to mind walking down the side of a road with his nose in a paperback book and being hit by a pickup truck who driver took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to deal with his dog.

Mr. King blamed the driver 100 percent in his autobiography taking no blame himself for being lost in a book while walking on the side of a road,

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@BillRM,

In the 80s a friend of mine almost walked in front of a van while he was listening to his Walkman. The van literally missed him by a couple of inches, and he was completely oblivious to the whole thing.

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People have been getting killed for years by stepping into the street while texting or checking email on their phones. If one calls this a trend, it's already begun.

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@Lordyaswas,

Here is some more laughs over the woman actions.

Of course the lawsuit did not go anywhere but still............

footnote the security guard who posted the video sadly got fired however.

Quote:

FRESNO, California (KFSN) -- Earlier this week ABC30 showed you video of a woman who mistakenly fell into the fountain at a Pennsylvania mall, because she was distracted by text messaging. Well now that woman is suing the mall for not helping her.

| Watch Video Above for Extended Coverage |

The video has received more than 1.5 million views since it went viral on YouTube last week. The woman in the video, Cathy Cruz Marrero, doesn't think the video is very funny. She claims she could have gotten seriously hurt and that the security guards should have helped instead of laugh.

"I'm just like dumbfounded. And all I kept saying was, 'I fell. I fell. I fell in the fountain. I fell in the fountain.'"

Marrero has hired a lawyer to pursue legal action. The investigation is ongoing at the mall as to who leaked the video online. You can hear more from Marrero and her attorney Thursday on Good Morning America.

(Copyright ©2013 KFSN-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

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I think people have always bumped into things because they're not looking where they're going, but the invention of the mobile phone has acted as a catalyst. More people are spending more time connected to the ether, so more people run the risk of having such an accident than they did before.

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@izzythepush,

I sometimes bump into things or trip because of my peripheral vision, but for that reason I'm very careful so it doesn't happen very often. I was almost crashed into by a woman on her mobile in the grocery store... idiot, walking fast, talking loud, no attention. Some larger or busier stores scare me since some people dart around thoughtlessly (that's mostly at walmart, but not only). On the other hand, many who catch themselves doing that are apologetic, whatever the store.

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@ossobuco,

Large shopping trolleys and inattentiveness are a dangerous combination.

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http://www.fralsningsarmen.se/dl2/p3/res.nsf/vRes/sagahemmet_halkar_s_121890107_1_jpg/%24File/halkar_s_121890107%5B1%5D.jpg

See what happens just because I have to read this..... It is all your fault.

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Don't step aside if a phone dummy is walking towards you, let them bump into you and make a fool of themeslves!
Alternatively step slightly aside and catch their elbow with yours to knock the phone out of their hand.
Either way, they're in the wrong for not looking where they were going.. Smile

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In my youth, I almost ruin a railroad drawbridge due to looking at two very good looking women in bikinis on a boat going by, instead of paying attention to what I was doing in lowing the bridge.

You do not need electronic to not be paying attention to what you need to pay attention to.

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Is this the beginning of a trend?

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