My day was ruined and it was only 8 a.m. I had become yet another victim of the epidemic that I like to call rogue texting. A rogue texter is a person that is so self-absorbed that they can’t take the time to wait to send their 160 character message; instead, they proceed to walk and text, oblivious to their surroundings and their actions. For example, back to my traumatizing morning; I was leaving the library with my morning’s tea in hand, as I took a sharp turn to my right I was met by a wall of oblivious flesh, causing the contents of my tea to come splashing back toward my person. The combination of both the searing pain from the hot liquid along with the embarrassment of walking around with a stain for the rest of my day is just one example as to how these rogue texters are a nuisance that needs to be dealt with. In fact some parts of the country are taking a much more proactive role in protecting citizens from the threat of rogue texting, implementing severe consequences regarding the epidemic.

In the state of New Jersey steps are being taken to ensure the safety of the populace when it comes to the issue of rogue texting. A specific example of this can be seen in the city of Fort Lee, New Jersey which has implemented a law that bans texting while walking and imposes a $85 ticket for those who don’t comply. This ban was motivated by the increase of pedestrian-related accidents and crashes, of which there were a total of 74 and three subsequent deaths. Furthermore this ban was supported by research from the Stony Brook University that found in a study that 60 percent of texters failed to walk in a straight line when actively using their phones to send a message.

What is evident from my experience and the experiences of those throughout the U.S. is that rogue texting is tremendously annoying and an issue of safety, and is easily recognizable among students at Tam. If this issue is not resolved soon, who knows what the repercussions may be for our society.