Smartphone-s are addictive, we all know that and this is not the subject of this article, but now we are talking about a risk we have when we write messages while moving. According to a study carried out by British researchers, writing messages on the smartphone while moving will make us walk strangely, something that probably few imagined until now.
British researchers used a series of participants in the study and asked them to write messages from their smartphones while walking, monitoring their movements. The researchers mounted a series of sensors that monitored eye and body movements while people used a smartphone to write or read messages while walking through a series of obstacles.
The result of the study demonstrated that smartphone users spend up to 61% less time looking for obstacles if they use the terminals on the go. Moreover, they raise their legs higher and slower over obstacles than in situations where they do not use a smartphone, adopting an "exaggerated" cautious attitude to reduce the risks of falling and hitting themselves.
Smartphone - what do you risk when you write messages on the go
Of all the tests done on smartphone users, the majority adopted this change in behavior when they were writing a message, as opposed to when they were reading it. This is normal, because writing a message on a smartphone is more complex than simply reading it, so users focused less on the environment and walking.
"We found that using a phone means we look less frequently, and for less time, at the ground, but we adapt our visual search behavior and our style of walking so we're able to negotiate static obstacles in a safe manner. These results in phone users adopting a slow and exaggerated stepping action. Accidents are likely to be the result of objects suddenly appearing that phone users were not aware of, for example other pedestrians or vehicles."
Separated from the standard effects regarding accidents and the risk of being run over by a car when using a smartphone while walking, there is also the problem of strange walking. Researchers say that people who often use a smartphone while walking end up having a strange gait due to excessive caution, and you probably see this every day when you walk through cities around the world.
