Things to Learn From the Stupidity of Texting While Driving

Texting while driving is stupid. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know this. And yet, people still seem to do it. I recently observed someone texting while driving and it got me thinking about the mindset of someone who does this. I realized that even if you never text and drive, there are still a lot of things to learn about success from these people…

I was driving back into Philadelphia from New Jersey, and I noticed the car in front of me seemed to be having a slightly hard time staying in its lane. You’ve seen this before – the car that keeps drifting into the next lane and then jerks back, only to repeat the process twenty seconds later.

Watching this, I has the same thought I always do in these situations: “Hmm, is this person drunk or just stupid?” Well, since it was a Sunday afternoon and there is such a large number of stupid drivers on the road, I assumed the latter. But I kept a safe distance anyhow.

As we approached a toll, we both slowed down and my car pulled closer. I was able to see into the driver’s side view mirror and get a look at the driver. It took me me about two seconds to realize what was going on. From the side mirror, I could see it was a girl who’s head seemed to be switching between looking straight ahead and looking down and to the right with great frequency. Guess what a person who’s head keeps looking down and to the right while driving is doing…that’s right TEXTING. *sigh*

I am constantly amazed by this. What could possibly be so critical that you have to send a text, right now as you are driving? And if the text is so important, why can’t you pull over to send it? I have racked my brain trying to think of a scenario, and I have at best come up with one:

You are a secret agent, a la Jack Bauer from 24. You are in your car, and you have just figured out the code numbers that will deactivate the bomb you have been hunting for all day and you need to get those numbers to Chloe at CTU. However, you are being chased by bad guys so you have to keep moving. You are about to call in the numbers in when suddenly a terrorist pops up from behind you! He has been hiding in your car and now has applied a choke hold on you! So, in this situation, a) you can not pull over because the terrorists are chasing you, b) the call must be made immediately, and c) you can not simply use your hands free and call it in because you are being choked.

Ok, in that scenario, I grant you carte blanche to text and drive. But I am guessing that you don’t regularly find yourself in this situation and that most of the times you are tempted to text while driving are to send messages like, “hey, ill b thre in 5! sorry! lol :)” That completely and utterly fails the “Jack Bauer seriousness test” of valid texts.

I am working on the assumption that most adults and (God willing) most teens know that texting while driving is a bad idea. We’ve all heard the studies now that show that texting while driving impairs your ability more than drinking (The difference is that alcohol impairs judgement, so you can at least understand why someone who has been drinking makes the stupid choice to drive. Not so with the texters). Take any random group of people and ask them whether they should text while driving and most will say “no.”

So why do people do it? I am guessing it’s because in the moment, while you are driving and your phone vibrates to let you know you have a text message, you are faced with four challenges. These challenges not only tempt you to respond to a text when you know you shouldn’t, but can also be a factor when it comes to dealing with other areas of your life:

Overestimating Importance

As stated above, there are few text messages that you absolutely must send right now! Take a breath, relax, and realize that the world will not end if you don’t send (or reply to) this message right away.

At the very least, wait until your car is stopped at a red light, traffic jam, or something similar.

In the same way, you can get stuck giving trivial things in your life too much importance. Sometimes the thing that’s right in front of our face seems like it requires immediate attention, but in the grand scheme of things it’s really not important and will ultimately only serve to knock us off course. When these kinds of things pop up, remind yourself to take a breath, relax, and re-focus on what’s important.

Question: How often do you fall into the trap of overestimating importance?

Overestimating Ability

Another problem is that people just simply overestimate their ability to do things. “Oh, I can send this quick text message while keeping focus on the road.”

Riiiiiiiight. Good luck with that.

Keep in mind, this is never a rational decision made away from the car, outside of the scenario. No, this decision always happens right in the moment, while you are driving. It’s when we forget about how dangerous the activity can be and assume that we are one of those blessed outliers who can do it all.

Same thing applies outside of driving. People often overestimate what they can do, how much time they have, and how little help they need. As a result they end up spreading themselves too thin and burn out.

Question: Do you ever make the mistake of overestimating your own ability to “do it all”?

Lack of Emotional Control

Impulse control is a problem. I know how it goes: your text alarm goes off letting you know that you have a new message. You desperately want to pick up the phone to read the message. If you do, you then desperately want to reply to it. You hold off, knowing it’s a bad idea, but you can’t stop thinking about it! You get fidgety…you lose focus…you start imaging what the person on the other end of the phone must be thinking as they wait for your reply…then you can’t take it anymore and you grab the phone and hammer out a quick reply!

Ahhh, sweet relief! You can now get back to the task at hand: driving. That is, until thirty seconds later when your friend texts you a reply…

The ability to control those immediate urges, to put long term benefits ahead of short term gains, is critical to our overall success. Beyond the driving situation, how often do we all sidetrack ourselves by succumbing to those immediate urges? How often do we get off track because we are too impatient to wait or to persevere when things get tough?

Consider receiving a text while you are driving as a simple opportunity for you to practice your patience and emotional control…

Question: How is your current level of emotional control?

The Ding! Factor

As I often write and talk about, Ding! Happens. How well you do depends on how well you flow with the Dings of life.

When you do something like text and drive at the same time, you are severely reducing your ability to deal with the unexpected Dings that come along while you are driving. Sure, if the roads are clear and nothing happens, you could probably drop your head for a couple of seconds and be fine. But if in that two seconds the person in front of you brakes hard, or the person to your right tries to cut into your lane right in front of you, or if any one of hundreds of other things happen, you could very well be screwed.

It’s so easy to make decisions based on how we think we can do if everything goes great, or at least stays as is (housing crisis, anyone…?) But remember: Ding! Happens. Make sure your decisions will be sound even if everything doesn’t go perfectly well.

Question: Are you ready for the big Ding! to come along?

The next time you are driving along and you feel tempted to send a text, please remember these few lessons. Not only can they keep you safe on the road, but they can also help you be more successful in your non-driving life too!

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