Very occasionally I have come across, or almost been bumped into by, someone reading a book as they walk along the road. Every time it has happened I have thought it must be a very good book. I have yet to see someone reading a book as they drive along the road. So why do some people feel the need to play games on their phones as they drive along?
I was alerted to this odd practice when I read something about a new measure to update the law on using mobile phones while driving. “While making calls or texting on a hand-held mobile while driving is already illegal, taking photos, scrolling through a playlist or even playing games on phones has not been outlawed until now – allowing drivers to escape charges when spotted with a phone.”
How very strange to think it is in any way okay to play a game on your phone while driving. Is it a consequence of our modern life which seems to dictate having your phone in your hand almost constantly, and the need to have a background noise of some kind going on whatever you are doing? Our eldest granddaughter, for instance, claims she cannot concentrate on her work if she doesn’t have music playing on her TV. This is fine while she working at home but what will happen when she has to spend some time working in the office. And we have a friend who almost always phones us while he is driving, as if the idea of simply driving to his destination, maybe listening to some music, is just too much.
And there are people who argue for banning the use of hands free kits to make phone calls while driving. These are probably the same people who argue that listening to songs rather than instrumental music is dangerous while driving. The concentration, even subconscious, required to listen to the words is a distractor, they say. Perhaps even a conversation with a passenger is too distracting!
Personally I take a sort of halfway stand. I am always concerned when our daughter uses her handsfree kit to call us while she is driving. But I always enjoy singing along to songs in the car (not that I drive anywhere these days) and I learnt an awful lot of Italian commuting to and from work in my car listening to Michel Thomas CDs. I hasten to add that I did not follow the CD instructions to pause the recording every time I tried to answer a question in Italian.
It’s a complicated question but I would certainly draw the line at playing games on the phone while driving. There was, however, a story going round at one time about someone who was stopped because he was clearly watching a film on a small screen propped up on his dashboard! Crazy people!
It all goes back quite a long way. I remember having arguments with our children about doing homework and watching TV at the same time. Music is a different matter, although personally I always preferred quiet while studying. But some people, such as a German teacher friend of mine, use music as a kind of mnemonic - a certain tune helping to learn verb or case endings or adjective agreements. No doubt someone has done an academic study on this. So it goes.
Out in Covid-world the struggle for Greater Manchester goes on. It is quite interesting to see a representative of a government which keeps changing it’s stand on all sorts of policies criticising others. However, Michael Gove has apparently done that, accusing Andy Burnham of risking lives by opting for “press conferences and posturing” rather than agreeing to new coronavirus rules. I suppose the government’s delay in deciding on measures to be taken risked no lives at all!
It’s good to see that people in the arts sector are going to receive some financial assistance but it seems recipients have been instructed to “to welcome this funding on your social media accounts (using #HereforCulture), on your website (using the ‘Here for Culture’ logo) and in your newsletters”.
So you get some help and in return give the government, a political party you maybe do not support, some fee propaganda support. Hmmm! This has naturally provoked some comment. One comedian posted: “Many friends of mine own live entertainment venues and have applied for funding to keep afloat … the same government that closed them down, put in new restrictions every week, risked the livelihoods of owners and their staff, are making venues go on social media and tell everyone how brilliant and supportive they are. If that was your partner acting like that you’d be in an abusive relationship. Shocking how low Boris and co will sink.”
Hey ho!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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