The other day I was driving down Balmoral to a red light when a car waiting in the next lane suddenly veered out into mine, narrowly stopping in time.
Moments later, I saw him behind me and realized the reason for his error. He was on the phone.
For almost five minutes, he drove behind me, holding his cell to his ear, steering with his right hand.
Didn’t he realize the danger of distracted driving, not to mention the fact that it’s illegal? I kept waiting for him to hang up, becoming more irate along the way. Suddenly, I realized that while I was watching him and muttering to myself, I hadn’t noticed the last few blocks.
We have the art of the distraction down to a science. I eat lunch working at my desk. I sing and dance while cooking. I read while brushing my teeth.
Unfortunately, it’s also causing some problems. And I’m not just talking the erratic driver on the phone. Parts of my sandwich keep falling on my keyboard. I’ve sliced my finger because I couldn’t coordinate my bopping with my chopping. And I once spit in my book.
We’re a multi-tasking society. And while television used to be the distraction in the background, now we’ve got distractions to the distraction. And the networks know it.
Survivor: Someplace You’ll Never Go depends on viewer distraction to disguise the complete lack of logic in the players’ so-called game strategy. No one’s noticed that they sound like six-year-olds in a game of make-believe as they negotiate who does what and who plays who.
And this summer, viewers will spend as much time texting their fellow viewers about Big Brother as they do watching the show. That means at least half of the time they’ll be too distracted to hear the dialogue. And the fact that it makes no sense.
Of course, summertime television doesn’t necessarily have to make sense. We’re too busy for extensive introspection and deliberation. So perhaps the viewer warnings should include a percentage attention span. “Best viewed at 60 per cent. Otherwise, confusion and general frustration could result.”
Unfortunately, BB has taken it a step further, involving viewers with the goings on in the house by voting for a weekly MVP.
Consequently, the distraction of Big Brother will spread across North America like an unstoppable contagion, infecting residents one tweet at a time.
And all of this could stop if we simply paid attention to what we’re watching.
Distractions keep us from worry, boredom and the occasional bad habit. But perhaps doing things one at a time might be safer for all – and improve the quality of that time.
Something to consider. But first, I need to dig a piece of lettuce out of my keyboard.
