The Dangerous Side of Technology

Nowadays when states are pushing to ban texting and talking on a cellphone while driving (ex: Massachusetts and Connecticute), the "Road SMS" application is being extremely counter-productive. Thousands of people are killed each year because they are texting when driving, obviously not paying attention to the road or their surroundings. People are even getting killed or seriously injured while just walked in the streets while texting.This new app for the Samsung Android encourages people to text while walking or driving. It's actually available in the Samsung App Store which is amazing to me! You would think that Samsung would not allow an application to be available to people because it could lead to serious accidents.

As you can see below, the application uses the phone's camera as a videocamera to display the scene as the background while texting. In theory, this is a good idea but when you really think about what it will be used for, its not so much a good idea anymore. It just connects to what we were talking about in class that everyone has become so addicted to technology, they can't just put it down for 5 minutes while walking down the street to grab a gallon of milk. "Road SMS" even advertises itself as being a safe alternative! How is that safe in any way?? Yes, you can see what is in front of you but if a car were to come flying into your passenger-side door because you just blew through a red light texting, then it's not so useful anymore. Hopefully this application will not extend beyond the realms of the Samsung App Store or else there could be some real problems