Out to lunch

Texting while driving and not paying attention

The week before last, two Northwest pilots overshot Minneapolis, their destination, by a hundred and fifty miles, apparently oblivious of their instruments and their internal clocks, as well as of a barrage of increasingly desperate radio calls from air-traffic control. Afterward, they explained that they’d logged onto their personal laptop computers and become so engrossed—not in FarmVille or porn, or even good old off-line activity, such as a ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin
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Subjects: Business, Sci/Tech, Health
Member Tags: Texting, Multitasking
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# Diggs: 1 (as of 2009-11-02)
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Posted by: Posted by Fabrice Florin - Nov 2, 2009 - 10:54 AM PST
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Fabrice Florin - Nov 5, 2009 - 8:20 AM PST
Fabrice Florin
3.8
by Fabrice Florin - Nov. 2, 2009

Insightful story about the impact of multitasking on our daily lives. This short article cites recent examples and studies showing of how our attention spans are increasingly derailed by new media technology, from text messages on our cell phones to distractions on our computers.

Our advisor and editor Michael Bugeja is cited in this article, as someone who has written extensively on the topic.

See Full Review » (16 answers)
Kristin Gorski
3.9
by Kristin Gorski - Nov. 3, 2009

An intelligent, witty treatment of a sign of the times: being consumed by technology-based tasks while piloting a large passenger plane, and forgetting when to land. Solid sociological context. Great insights from experts.

See Full Review » (12 answers)
Michael Bugeja
3.9
by Michael Bugeja - Nov. 2, 2009

The occasion of this humorous, well-written piece was the overshooting of an airport by Northwest pilots. Despite the humor, the author notes some very real consequences of distraction.

I'm one of the sources for the piece, and I must attest, the New Yorker fact check is as precise and healthy as ever!

Marshall McLuhan predicted that technology would sharpen our senses, but, instead, as the writer Michael Bugeja said last week, it seems to split them. More »

See Full Review » (13 answers)
Erin Elise Accomando
4.6
by Erin Elise Accomando - Nov. 2, 2009

This is not necessarily quality NEWS journalism, but by all of my standards this is just a really good read!

See Full Review » (18 answers)
Daniel Stocking
3.9
by Daniel Stocking - Nov. 4, 2009

This story is very relevant to our era of technology, great topic choice.

See Full Review » (18 answers)

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