Ruminations on our relationship with technology
When to heed usability-flexibility tradeoffs I recently moved from the Twin Cities to Philadelphia, and luckily, I bought myself a GPS device beforehand. I’m glad I did, because it prevented me from getting lost while traveling and driving around the East Coast. Sure, I could just use a GPS app on a smartphone for the … Read more
Distracted driving laws FAQs Those who have followed my writing as of late probably noticed I’ve felt a need to write about the problem of distracted driving, including shortcomings with some distracted driving laws in my state (Minnesota) and other states. For instance, on this site, I’ve written about research on distracted driving and distracted … Read more
Do hands-free devices make roads any safer? Recently, MinnPost (a Minnesota newspaper) published an opt-ed I wrote (“Hands-free cellphone bill won’t stop distracted driving”). In it, I criticized a hands-free law passed in Minnesota, which bans the use of hand-held phones while driving. Evidently, proponents of this law assume that using hands-free devices in the … Read more
Cellphones and distracted driving When I was in grad school studying technical communication and cognitive science, a pressing question bothered me. It dealt with a problem that affected many of my peers, particularly those of us who drove. Why does using a cellphone in the car distract from driving? What is distracted driving? It’s a … Read more