In my opinion: Ourselves and our children, and the tunnel vision that we have acquired.
To me tunnel vision is, it seeing only things that are immediately in front of you, and not paying attention to what is around you. (Just like looking down a dark tunnel.) People of an older generation knew this as an expression, for someone who was devoted to a specific goal, better than younger people of this generation. A word used to describe a person that was driven, which may now have to be used as a mental diagnosis.
I have noticed in the 20 years or so, how much Electronic Devices have paid a part in our lives. Cell phones, televisions, game consoles, tablets, just a name you. It is curious, how these devices have played a big part in building our tunnel vision. We have learned to block out the outside so well, that we can sit in a busy park, and still enjoy a movie on our phone or a tablet. We communicated to a friend over texting without missing a word and there can be children playing in the room.
We’re training ourselves so well to block out others, noises and interruptions, so much so that when someone walks into the room, we don’t even know they have entered. This has translated over to our driving, our interactions with others, normal things that go on in our daily lives.
How I believe it has translated over to our driving habits, is that we have gained the ability to block everything else out, hearing an ambulance, or a horn from another car, before reacting to the situation. When we are driving down a road, not seeing a motorcycle, until it is to late. Cars that are going around us, most people are not even aware of the person behind you.
I believe it is translated over our interactions, so that we can have conversations on a texting device and, that we block out conversations even if were involved in them. Once the headphones are put on, they would not have any idea the back half of the house is burning down, grandma just fell out of bed.
And believe that translates over normal things that we do in our lives to, we lose all track of time, we missed appointments, and we have lost communication skills, face to face. I have seen people that will become so involved in an electronic device that they just walk straight into a pole. Trip and fall downstairs and almost get ran over stepping into the street.
I see that they have put the responsibility of the person driving to watch for the person walking, and they are both on electronic devices. God forbid something happen, but you see what I mean.
I don’t think that it is time to swear off the devices, because you know that is what the world is going to. But, I do think that we need to make smart decisions on when we’re going to use and when we’re going to lay them down.
They are now making vehicles that will stop your car for you, if you miss breaking in time, it will stop the car for you. Let’s look at this:
How do I know this is really going to stop my car and keep me out of an accident? With all the objects that float around on the street, what is the camera is blocked? What about snow and ice, will this inhibit the effectiveness of this object? Will this help with a child running into a street? Will this help with a motorcycle I didn’t see? How big does the item have to be for it to apply my brakes for me?
What about the car that parallel parks itself for you. Is this going to catch a child that runs out behind you? What if the car behind or in front decides to leave as your parking?
What about proximity alarms on cars, same basic questions as above.
I am just basically saying nothing is better than your eyes, we need to break out of our tunnels, because there will be enough people running around in theirs. And believe it or not, it will be you job to protect them from themselves.