Just Say 'No'...To Driving And Multi-Tasking?

I confess that I was delighted to read in recent reports that teenagers are putting off obtaining their driver's licenses. This phenomenon is occurring because kids are putting online activity and texting well ahead of driving. Apparently, since teens spend so much time communicating via Skype, ooVoo, Facebook or through text, why bother with driving to a friend's home?

Yes, we all know it's sad that human contact has diminished and is continuing to diminish with technology. Additionally, we are bombarded with information that more technology equals fewer hours spent on physical activity. It's all true, but there some great things to come out of this story such as fewer cars on the road and cleaner air. No, the air isn't suddenly becoming cleaner at the moment with fewer teens on the road, but if the trend continues, there could be some minor impact here or I might be dreaming.

I am comforted to know that fewer teens choose to drive and fewer teens choose to text and drive. A recent report says that adults are engaging in texting and driving much more than their adolescent counterparts. I was shocked by that one until I counted at least five adult drivers either talking and/or texting while driving on a recent outdoor run. So according to the reports, while adults are behaving badly behind the wheel, the auto driving teens are generally minding their "P's and Q's." Are we adults falling down on the job or are we mastering multi-tasking? One must wonder.

Still, it's sad that today's teens are so wired and becoming more so as we are predicted to wear more electronic devices as technology becomes even more sophisticated. Soon, in addition to wearing headphones, more of us will have electronic glasses, bracelets, leg-bands and more gadgets doing more work for us - plugging us into another reality creating a parallel universe. It's hard to predict how this will all look in 10 years, but it makes me think about how we will interact with each other in the future.

Speaking of wearing headphones, I recently witnessed a bike rider with noise cancelling headphones on sans helmet riding in traffic. In my opinion, this "headgear combo" is an accident waiting to happen. Then, I got to thinking. Perhaps this bike rider is preparing for the future when even riding completely unprotected in traffic, one is completely wired-up, plugged in and uber-multi-tasking.

Maybe doing a million things at once will be the norm such as checking our stocks, watching a ball game, getting our blood pressure checked all while just walking down the street. I fear the day will come when I will be saying, "What happened to the good ole days when we used to drive, text, watch Duck Dynasty and drink a tall latte all at once?"