Phone Fiddlers

The greatest hazards I encounter out on the streets are the 'phone fiddlers' – those who seem to spend every waking moment immersed in their mobile (cell) 'phones, ignorant of the world about them. I have to have all my spatial awareness at full strength these days...not helped by my eyesight issues that are now so bad that I carry a folding white cane as a precaution in case I get into real difficulties.

That has come very close to occurring several times in recent months, by the way...

What's the problem with these people? Don't they have real lives in the actual world? They have become yet another hazard on the footpath, adding to (rather than replacing any of) those already there from earlier eras. The number of near-collissions I experience nowadays is quite astonishing – and, as I have mentioned before, it is largely my own fault for being part of the team that licensed the development of these gadgets, back in 1985.

I, along with (identified by initials only) BM, DB, JO and MD, made it possible for people to have these infernal things. It would be okay if they stopped moving and tucked themselves into somewhere not in everyone's way while they did what they feel they have to do; but of course they never but never do. It is little wonder that such as they are always being caught illegally driving while telephoning, texting or whatever.

It is an addiction, and needs to be clinically evaluated, as it is every bit as all-consuming as any other addiction I have ever encountered. The details might be different, but the underlying nature is broadly the same. Yes, such people really need to get a grip and learn to face the real world instead, but for many this now seems to be as difficult a habit to break as just about any other.

Personally, I hate the fiddly little things, and refuse to have one.