This is why people text and drive, even though it might kill you
If texting and driving is so dangerous, then why do people still do it?David Greenfield, founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction and a professor at the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine might have the answer.
Greenfield, who studies the effects of digital technology on the brain, likes to call smartphones “the world’s smallest slot machines” because they affect the brain in a similar way that gambling or using drugs does. What happens when you text and drive is similar to what happens when you gamble. The dopamine levels increase as you anticipate messages, and that leads to higher levels of pleasure.
Greenfield said people should not use their phone at all while driving, but acknowledges that this might not be realistic. ”Apps, public education and laws that ban texting and driving will all help change people’s behavior, just as anti-drunken-driving laws and public education campaigns have reduced drunken driving over the past few decades.”
A survey by AT&T found that 98% of drivers who own cellphones and text regularly, said they were aware of the dangers. Alarmingly, 75% of them admitted to texting and driving, despite laws against it and the dangers it holds.
If you think texting and driving is still fine, then watch this video, it will change how you think about texting and driving forever.