The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
Texting girl trips during live TV broadcast
For some reason, people texting and falling over still seems amusing. Is it because it reminds us of our own ridiculous behavior?
(Credit:
Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
There can't be too many people these days who haven't had a mishap--or at least a near-mishap--while texting and walking down the street.
Somehow, the depth with which we are engrossed in our little phones is inherently comical.
So when footage emerged this week of a CBC broadcast in which a texting girl fell flat on her nose, more than 1 million people went to YouTube to laugh.
Everyone does, indeed, love the banana skin pratfall.
But texting and walking has surely gained a unique place in culture, for its sheer absurdity. Just a couple of years ago, I found myself tempted into bumping into New York text-walkers, just to see if they had any self-consciousness at all. (They don't.)
Instead, I found if text-walkers bump into you, they actually think it's your fault. They truly believe that it is your responsibility to get out of their way, because, in texting, they are proving they have more important things to do than look out for you.
Still, last year Philadelphia thought it best to offer police cautions to those who cross the street while texting.
One can only hope that the lady in this scene wasn't seriously hurt, other than by the fame which her performance brought her. One day soon, though, someone will walk headfirst into a lamppost and the humor might, well, die down.
Until then, it's funny. Because, well, humans are ridiculous, aren't they?
