Today's Thought about Single-Tasking: DWC

That's Driving While Cellphoning. I am going to try to end, or at least severely curb, this habit. This article from the NY Times scared me. Not only is it obvious that even talking on the phone--even with a hands-free kit--is dangerous to me, it endangers everyone else on the road too. It scared me as the father of one kid with a permit and another who can't wait to get hers--I need to model safe driving habits for them. Not only are the arguments in favor of DWC--you're attacking my freedom, you can't make stupidity illegal, the cellphone companies are "neutral" on the topic--all sound like what the tobacco companies said about smoking, or the beer companies said about drunk driving.

What's really frightening to me is to read that there's a tiny adrenaline rush when we are contacted electronically. As someone who has fallen madly for his iPhone in the 2.5 months I've owned it, who uses a 5 minute wait at the end of marching band rehearsal or field hockey practice to check my email, who now is lusting for a Kindle, ... wow, my addiction is worse than I thought.



I have already been practicing only dialing my phone when I first get in my car. But now I am thinking that the phone can stay on only in case there is a real emergency. I will answer only with my hands-free. If it's not an emergency, I end the call. I need to be careful, and I want my kids to be careful too.