Reader Response Draft #1

In the article “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road”, Christopher Tan (2017) reported that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is implementing a new road-crossing feature at two locations which involves fixing LED strips onto pavements by those pedestrian crossings. These strips will imitate signals of pedestrian crossings and can be seen throughout the entire day. According to an interview by the author, Gopinath Meno, senior research fellow of Nanyang technological University, stated that the installation of the floor lights would enhance safety of those who are constantly looking at their smartphones as they are unaware of the road condition.

While I think this implementation is a good solution towards the safety of pedestrians as they are able to take note of the lighting on the ground while looking on their phones towards the floor, I feel that it would not be a long-term solution as it does not help the pedestrians to change their habit of looking down on the phone when crossing the street.

It is mentioned in the article that major cities around the world are facing problems with “Smartphone Zombies”. Solutions have been implemented for different countries including Singapore, however most of the solutions are unable to prove that it has a long-term effectiveness onto the pedestrians.

In my opinion, I feel that the solutions should not only help enhance the safety aspects of pedestrians crossing but also instil the habit to stop using their phones when approaching the pedestrian crossing. The reason why people nowadays are reliant onto smartphones is because of the advancement of technology in the environment.

Crossing the road is a simple and fundamental skill that is learnt through the process of growing up. We were taught the basics of crossing of roads, looking left and right, checking of oncoming vehicles, put our hands up when crossing, all these basics slowly becomes a habit that is instilled into each individual. Due to the technological advancements which leads to the term “Smartphone Zombies” being created, people are slowly losing these basic habits when it comes to crossing of roads. Hence, with floor lights being introduced it is causing people to ‘forget’ about their fundamentals of road crossing, which should not be happening.

What we should be looking at is to re-educate people by implementing better solutions before the problem nurtures and people start to get too overly reliant. The future generations of youngsters would also be learning from their parents which are from this current generation. There is a saying that goes ‘Old habits die hard’, if the next generation of youngsters are being taught in the wrong aspect from young, it will be very difficult to change their bad habits when they become adults. Therefore, it is essential for countries to focus on re-educating people from this generation rather than coming up with solutions that only emphasis on safety.

In conclusion, ‘Floor lights’ may be able to enhance the safety aspects of pedestrians crossing and target “Smartphone Zombies”, but it is unable to provide a long-term solution to tackle the bad habits of “Smartphone Zombies”.

Reference

Christopher Tan (2017, May 10). Dubbed "Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road. Retrieved September 24 2017, from www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road

Rob Margetta (2015, June 29). Dubbed “what are the kids thinking when crossing the street?” Retrieved September 27 2017, from https://phys.org/news/2015-06-fundamental-safety-questionwhat-kids-street.html