Bagging the electronics
A friend recently remarked that he's had it with all of his mobile electronics. It's not that he doesn't find them useful and convenient, because he does. In fact, he loves them. But he says that he's finding himself more distracted by them than ever before.
"I was running late one morning," he said. "I confess that I put on my earpiece and paired it with my phone while merging onto the highway. It took me three tries.
"And I noticed that my phone was nearly out of juice so I plugged it into the cigarette lighter. On my iPod was my daughter's playlist, which contains songs by The Wiggles and Danna Banana, so I fumbled with the scroll wheel until I found Emmylou Harris. Later, I found myself staring at the GPS more than the road, because I didn't want to get lost. I nearly sledded into another car while trying to decipher what street I was supposed to merge onto."
So, my friend is attempting to forego the cabin gadgets for a few weeks (especially with our northeast roads morphing to ice), but he's really jonesing for that GPS unit. "It's the one thing I find hard to live without," he says. "But I fear I'll do some damage if I don't keep my eyes on the road."
Its ironic that so many cars come with so many newfangled safety devices, such as curtain air bags, stability control, blind-spot warning, and pre-collision systems at the very same time the electronics manufacturers are shoveling distracting devices to us. It's almost like the auto companies are building safer cars to protect consumers from their gadget addictions. Then again, automakers are tempting us with built-in nav systems, menu-based controls such as iDrive, iPod connections, and over 150 channels of satellite radio to scan through, perpetually.
If I had a holiday wish for automotive consumers, it would be that the next wave of mobile electronics would emphasize driving safety over finding other inventive ways to lure our attention away from driving.
I'd like to see stockings stuffed with GPS units with head-up displays that glisten on windshields. It would be a Bluetooth Christmas if mobile phones really paired seamlessly and invisibly with any car. Even better if they only take calls when the vehicle is not in motion. And surely, there's some miraculous workshop where somebody is tinkering with an MP3 player that employs voice-recognition technology.
Heck, while I'm in the spirit, let's go for some real holiday magic: I'd like to wake up one cold, crisp morning and discover that every car on the road once again has a conventional radio tuning knob, rather than an array of Chiclet-scale buttons or hockey-puck rotary controllers. If technology truly made life simpler and safer, befuddled commuters like my friend wouldn't scream "bah, humbug" in frustration.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
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