The reason I love the spin-brush is because I can brush my teeth, open the blinds, put a load of laundry in, and straighten the nursery at the same time. It’s two minutes of fantastic multi-tasking. Everyone should use a spin-brush and contribute more to society. (Apparently there are also hygienic benefits.)
As I’ve been trying to use twitter and facebook a bit more (yes, I’m back on facebook), I discovered a time when I absolutely cannot multi-task. When I’m driving.
When I got my smart phone, I actually had the thought, “Oh good! I can save some time by checking my email and driving at the same time.” Terrible, I know. But, I just want to be honest with you. So there were a couple of times when I took a furtive glance at my email as I was driving – just long enough to delete a facebook update or something. Hey, I’m a busy mom and things like this save me a lot of time and effort at home. But THEN I saw other women doing it. I’d watch out my window as a young mother bounded along the highway in her mini-van, with her eyes glued to her phone. I was ticked. She had some nerve to put me and my children in harm’s way because she couldn’t stay off of her cell phone. I even honked my horn at a couple of phone-lookers, hoping that they would think about what they were doing. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was holding a double-standard. The truth is, I was a phone-looker. And it was not safe. The other day, I heard an acquaintance of mine, car accident lawyer timothy j. ryan, say that the probabilities of an accident transpiring have increased since mobile phones were introduced.
So, I’ve made the hard and fast rule for myself that I will not look at my phone when I am driving. If I need to dial, I can wait until a red light. I will not check email. The first few days, it was a conscious effort. I had to grip the steering wheel and keep my eyes on the road. It felt kinda like when I refuse to say a really mean joke that pops into my head. There it is, just bubbling beneath the surface, but I slam the door and say, “NO. I refuse to say you out loud!” But after a few days, the discipline felt good. And it’s obviously the best and safest decision.
At this point, you are either thinking, “I can’t believe she ever did that!” (To which I’m glad because that means you don’t look at your phone while you’re driving! Hooray! Please keep doing that!) OR you are feeling a smidgen guilty for all of the phone-looking you’ve been doing lately. If you’re in the latter group, stop feeling guilty and stop looking at your phone. Join me and the other great road-lookers out there! We are having a blast!
(Interested in more insight about blogging? Check out my new eBook, Blogger Behave: Make blogging benefit your life so you can love both“.)
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