Driven to Drink: Part 2 -- The Payment of Attention

This Time article gave me a chuckle -- although it ended up being short-lived. In what ended up being a clever public relations ploy, a British directory assistance company, 118118, and Living Streets padded the lamp posts -- with white, fluffy rugby goalpoast cushions -- on East London's Brick Lane to protect mobile phone users from injuries incurred by running into objects while walking and texting.

Although I am in constant marvel at the complexities of the human brain and its ability to multi-task, the simple truth is that my eyes can only focus on one thing at a time, and that's usually where my attention is focused as well.

In his excellent book and subsequent video on motorcycle safety "A Twist of the Wrist", Keith Code puts it something like this: Imagine your attention is a ten dollar bill. It's not unlimited and you have to spend it wisely. If you spend it all in one place, you'll have nothing left for anything else. When attention must be paid, how will you spend yours?

Here's the ITN video that was posted on YouTube that is the companion to the Time article. These same people that are oblivious to objects in their path are surely the same ones we have to look out for when we drive. Some of the video looks staged, but some of it clearly isn't.