The year was 1992 the boy band group Boyz to Men, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston were all at the top of the Billboard 100 charts, gas cost a little more than just a dollar, and George W. Bush Sr. was the U.S. president. The cell phone was in its infancy stage, weighing a whopping seventy grams and resembling more of a brick than the modern day smart phone. When engineer Neil Papwort of the Sema Group in the UK sent the first text message of “Merry Christmas” to his colleague Richard Jarvis, the way we communicate would never be the same (Russell 1). The text message revolutionized the way we share and exchange information. The simplicity and ease of SMS messaging made a simple phone call look like a complex long division problem that
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Text messaging is a very addictive habit that can distract us from the present moments in our real life. "Anything that you can become obsessed with, and you do so much that you don 't do the things you need to do with family, friends, school, job -- that can be an addiction. And texting absolutely can qualify” (Miller 1). In the United States over ninety percent of Americans own a cell phone, while seventy two percent of Americans use their phone for text messaging. (Miller 1) That equates to a little more than two hundred million people who use their cell phone for some sort of instant messaging. Automobile accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States today, texting and driving is one of the biggest reasons why. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration eighteen percent of all fatal crashes are caused by distracted drivers (FCC 1). A person who is texting and driving has a twenty three percent greater chance to cause an accident than one who is not distracted. (FCC 1) Forty percent of teenagers stated that they have been in a car while the driver is on their cell phone texting (FCC 1). Even though teenagers and adults know that texting and driving can put their lives and the lives of others in danger, they still do it because in their mind the importance of a text outweighs the risk of an accident. These people put all drivers in danger and that is why in the United States thirty three states have banned texting and driving making it an arrest able offence (Buchanan-King
Text messaging is a very addictive habit that can distract us from the present moments in our real life. "Anything that you can become obsessed with, and you do so much that you don 't do the things you need to do with family, friends, school, job -- that can be an addiction. And texting absolutely can qualify” (Miller 1). In the United States over ninety percent of Americans own a cell phone, while seventy two percent of Americans use their phone for text messaging. (Miller 1) That equates to a little more than two hundred million people who use their cell phone for some sort of instant messaging. Automobile accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States today, texting and driving is one of the biggest reasons why. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration eighteen percent of all fatal crashes are caused by distracted drivers (FCC 1). A person who is texting and driving has a twenty three percent greater chance to cause an accident than one who is not distracted. (FCC 1) Forty percent of teenagers stated that they have been in a car while the driver is on their cell phone texting (FCC 1). Even though teenagers and adults know that texting and driving can put their lives and the lives of others in danger, they still do it because in their mind the importance of a text outweighs the risk of an accident. These people put all drivers in danger and that is why in the United States thirty three states have banned texting and driving making it an arrest able offence (Buchanan-King