Look Up

Lyv said:

I do get annoyed that people obliviously using handhelds make leaving my house risky (I have mobility issues and when I use my walker and not my power chair, people plow into me. Well, they plow into me even when I use the power chair, but then it's a problem for them and not me, unless I end up wearing their lattes), so I get the point of maybe looking around once I awhile. Please. So, yeah, look up once in awhile, if only because there are wobbly people out there who can't afford to fall.

Click to expand...

I walk the mall everyday surfing with my handheld. I have to dodge more non-connected people who just seem to be oblivious of everything around them. Or they act like "hey, I'm walking here!" and you should get out of their way no matter what, regardless of standard foot traffic patterns. So I've become very skilled holding my smartphone at a height that I can interact on it while maintaining good peripheral vision to avoid all the non-connected maniacs out there. And yet, I still hear comments from the occasional asshat like, "put down the phone and watch where you're going." To which I'm thinking I saw your fat ass from a mile off, deliberately took this course to avoid you, and yet you still maneuvered yourself into a position to confront me.

Well, Shadow_Ferret, that is quite contrary to my experience, and I have to be hyperalert to what everyone around me is doing as I cannot afford to fall and it only takes a jostle to knock me to the floor. This used to be much, much easier before the prevalence of handhelds. I am not doubting that you are that rare handheld user who is not walking into people. That said, after I have done everything from such evasive movements as I can manage with my wobbly body and cumbersome walker to yelling, "Hey, HEY," it is most often someone with a handheld who glances up in annoyance as if I am the one at fault. They don't realize I've been trying to get out of their way and get their attention. But I am glad you are not one of those people. I wish there were fewer of them.