Treacherous Texting

While driving to work the other day, a woman hurriedly sped around me and then cut me off.  She remained the car in front of me the rest of the way.  However, I noticed that her eyes were downcast as she drove.  Yep, she was TEXTING

I realize that I am 28 years old and should be in love with the technology age.  Yes, I remember getting excited over the very first cell phone (that was more like a brick).  Or being super happy that my car came with a tape deck so I could rock out.  But, I will never understanding the obsession with texting.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't texting just like e-mailing?  I realize that the format is different in that the structure of the "letter" is very informal.  There is even a special lingo.  Hence "tots," "lol," and a host of other (sometimes indecipherable) codes.

Quite honestly, I will never text ever in my life.  I simply do not see the point.  If you want to contact me, pick up the phone and call.  I do not have time to try to figure out what your poorly written text message means.  And if you are that phone phobic, please just send me a regular, old e-mail.

The texting epidemic is running rampant.  I cannot tell you how many of my co-workers actually text while on the job.  And they act like this is the norm.  Would you find this acceptable behavior from a teacher?  What about a doctor?  Can you imagine a surgeon having his/her iPhone in the operating room and answering a text during surgery?  Certainly not!

Now, people are actually being stupid enough to text while driving!  First of all, no message from your BFF is worth risking your life to answer.  You are controlling a machine.  A machine that has the capability of killing others.  What would you say to the mother of a three year old child that died because you crashed into the rear end of her car while you were answering a text message?  "Sorry" just doesn't seem to cut it.

I am very glad that on January 1, 2014, talking on any mobile device while driving will be ILLEGAL.  I'm sure that there will be plenty of people out there claiming that the government is taking away yet another one of their rights.  I, however, am happy that they are protecting my right to use the highway as a safe driver who is just trying to get to work and them home safely.