Study Confirms You Walk Like a Slow Goober While Texting

“This study shows that people who are walking, texting and undertaking may slow their pace and alter their gait as a protective measure to perform all the required tasks simultaneously”.

The researchers recruited 30 participants to take part in the study.

Researchers at the university had a group of people complete three tasks as they walked through an obstacle course.

The researchers analyzed how the participants walked using motion-capture technology and timed their progress.

Distracted texting walkers were found slow down and lose their ability to maintain a straight line.

For the study, researchers examined the effect of texting and walking while being cognitively distracted and negotiating curbs and other common pedestrian obstacles. They hypothesized that texting would affect the way folks walked while also increasing the number of times they came in contact with obstacles.

The authors of the study suggested participants when faced with cognitive challenges to decrease their walking speed to avoid accidents. The prevailing theory seems to be that people know they’re not paying full attention, so try to take things slower to compensate.

Dr Earnest, who now works at Texas A&M University, said: “One day I was walking on the high street and totally frustrated by the “drunken weaving” about of texters who were also trying to carry on phone conversations during their shopping”. A real-world stroll might not go almost as smoothly.

If they made contact with a barrier, the researchers counted that as tripping.

And although mobile phone-wielding participants may have stepped more gingerly off the platform (surrogate pavement), we can’t be sure that their cautiousness, in a normal street environment, would extend to looking out for oncoming vehicles.

This small study adds to the understanding of how texting affects the way people walk.