Question for smart phone users

[james_davis_nicoll]

What's the best way to get someone walking down the street reading their phone to look up? "Hey!" and "Look forward!" don't seem to work.

Comments

[brownbetty]

Maybe "Car!"

[konsectatrix]

A sharp "Heads up!" usually works for me, although I've found I can get people to look up simply by looking at them. I don't know if that says something about me, the typical levels of alertness people function at around here, or both.

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

Send them a text message.

[nicosian.livejournal.com]

I have been known to just say "please watch where you're going", or less kindly if they're really getting obstructionist

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

"Oh my god! It's (insert name of celebrity here) stumbling around drunk! Someone will pay a fortune for a picture!"

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Or, perhaps: "OMG! It's a flashmob!"

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Seriously, though, I suspect an "eek!" or an "oh no!" would work as well as anything, standing out from background noise and engaging the sense of curiousity.
Collision averted, I hope?

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

Next time they'll comply.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I've always found it much more amusing to see what they run into.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It was going to be me.

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

Wave hand between their eyes & screen.

[agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com]

I'd let them. I'd stop stock still and wait. I might hold my cane in such a way as to be the first thing they hit. Broadside, of course. No stabbing. Okay, not much stabbing. No! No stabbing.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Air horn.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

+1.

Any decent marine supply store, and your better sporting goods stores will carry them. They're cheap. Everyone should have one in their pocket at all times. What if there is some sudden emergency that requires an air horn? ...like, I dunno, a spontaneous flashmob hockey game breaks out, and someone scores? BE PREPARED.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

I'm told one may also obtain them at party stores. I have not yet decided whether using one on cars that nearly run me down in crosswalks is worth the risk of making someone drive into a telephone pole in reaction.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

You know what would be cool? Building AN AIR HORN CANE!

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

I've been curious how well this would work in Canuckistan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7oGk-ozhKI

one might even operate it on a cane one-handed.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

"Look! The Winged Victory of Samothrace!"

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

...where was that FROM? I know that line and now it's going to nag at me.

[krfsm.livejournal.com]

Bored of the Rings.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you!

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Take their phone off them?

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

Hmm, how about "Look both ways before entering traffic."? Or, if I walked with a cane, hold the cane up in front of me and point it at the person walking towards me, with a jovial "Heads up!". If they look, good, if not, well, they get the point.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that deliberately turning a walking aid into an impaling weapon and then "jovially warning" someone (who you know is already distracted) not to walk into it is potentially very dangerous. That sounds an awful lot like you could end up getting charged with your jurisdiction's version of "assault with a weapon". It also sounds like you're trusting a hell of a lot that the other person isn't going to perceive this as a dire and immediate assault on their person and dismantle you on the spot. How do you know they are not capable of it? As James would say, "I can see no way in which this plan could end badly", or rather -- there seems to be almost no upside or happy ending at all for this plan.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

That is why the Air Horn Cane scenario is superior in every way.

Excuse me, I must go write a patent application.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

I have been known to a) read books b) knit c) text while walking down the street.

I do make a point of keeping my head at an angle that allows decent environmental awareness, and I don't do these things on busy streets.

Getting my attention: it is an unfortunate side-effect of the kinds of street harassment women come in for that I have spent 25 years carefully training myself NOT to visibly respond to male voices yelling "Hey" or anything similar at or near me, or at least not until I've a) parsed the content b) analysed the tone of voice, and c) checked the voice against my internal database of Guys I Know.

I used to spend far too much time explaining to friends that I was sorry I'd ignored them even when they honked and honked at me, but I'd be doing it next time, too.

"Look out!" and "Ma'am" both do work, because they're not confusable with street harasser noisees.

[pperiwinkle.livejournal.com]

"Getting my attention: it is an unfortunate side-effect of the kinds of street harassment women come in for that I have spent 25 years carefully training myself NOT to visibly respond to male voices yelling "Hey" or anything similar at or near me, or at least not until I've a) parsed the content b) analysed the tone of voice, and c) checked the voice against my internal database of Guys I Know."

Yeah, a big dollop of this.

[stephenshevlin.livejournal.com]

Increase your speed and try and walk into them. People tend to look up instinctively when that happens.

Stephen Shevlin

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Trying to get the attention of someone not paying attention is not going to be easy and glib answers aside, what is it you're actually attempting to do? If you're trying avoid getting walked into yourself, I have found that it's most effective to move to the inside of the walkway and stop walking, yourself. Then you're in a better position to know what kind of small movements you have to make to avoid contact.

If you're attempting to prevent the other person from hurting themselves, it depends how close to them you are and how nasty the imminent danger is. I think that the safest place to touch anyone is a calm, light, but firm open hand placed slowly but deliberately on the point of someone's shoulder, from the side or front if possible.

Recommendations to violently invade someone's personal space or aggressively touch their body may be glibly funny and all, but they're offensive acts that can quickly lead to places you don't want to go.

Simply making noise to attract their attention may or may not work. If you know someone's name, that's useful, but most people who've diverted their attention like this tend to put other noises in the background and will ascribe the "Hey!" To "someone else's problem". Although a noise that's quite loud or distress-ey sounding might work... Oddly enough, yelling out "help" might have more chance to get them to look up.

[dsrtao]

I would likely shout "Hold!" but I have biases and a very loud shout.

[mrteufel.livejournal.com]

If they're not larger than you, keep walking and brace for impact.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Cane to the foot? or midsection? Presuming one is being carried.

I'm also partial to a shoulder to the chest. With any luck it will also collide with the phone. If you can be standing still when impact occurs it will maximize the clarity that this is in fact their fault.

But I might watch too much hockey.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

If they're distracted and not watching where they're walking, and you notice that they're heading for you, and you deliberately take steps to hit them, how is that, in fact, their fault? You are at least partially responsible for the collision that results, if not moreso, since unlike the other party who was not looking, you were looking, and in fact behaved maliciously.

[agoodwinsmith.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am on board with no fair causing bodily harm just because someone appears to be completely distracted[1] in a selfish and piggy way. However, I am not going to step into traffic for this person's convenience[2], so I need another option.

How 'about a squirt of water? I was thinking naughty cat style spray bottle, rather than waterpistol for obvious it-is-bad-to-look-like-a-genuine-weapon reasons.

Maybe a mist of aroma in the field directly in front of oneself? Nothing gross - maybe cinnamon or baking bread or new car smell.

Since I am over-reactive to sounds (like an air horn, as much as I can see the fun in that if I am on the causing-the-hooting end), I am looking for something that will break concentration without damage.

[1] - I have doubts about them being unconsciously distracted, rather than deliberately distracted, but that is not provable, so we will leave it alone.

[2] - some places I walk, that is the only option other than stand still like a big grumpy rock.

[pperiwinkle.livejournal.com]

I wander amongst students on campus here, and not only are they often texting or reading their phones, they often have earbuds in, listening to music. Luckily I can manage a pretty loud, sharp whistle that has, so far, penetrated both visual and audio distractions.

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

"Look. UP!"

Two words, very effective with that emphasis. I've had to do this twice, once to a businessman about to walk out through a CTA turnstyle (that I was coming in through), so you'd think he'd have known better.

[adamek.livejournal.com]

"Have you seen this app?" or:

for iPhone user: "Android's better."
for Android user: "iPhone's better."

[chuk-g.livejournal.com]

Portable EMP device.

[ilya187.livejournal.com]

Why would you want to?

[drelmo.livejournal.com]

"Look out!" said in an alarmed voice.

Not in an attention-getting voice ("ahem"), or a polite voice ("excuse me"). An alarmed voice, a tone that strikes at the adrenals and says "Something dangerous is happening in the immediate vicinity!" Bypass the neocortex, head straight for the animal hindbrain.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

A loud blood curdling scream?

Or maybe, "my god, look at those breasts!" (*)


(*) requires assumptions about personal preferences

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

I have been known to "Crazy Ivan" in front of a niece or nephew who becomes too engrossed in their phone when we're out.

[sillymagpie.livejournal.com]

How does a human being do a Crazy Ivan? Walk backwards quickly? Just curious.

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

Stop suddenly, turn sideways, and brace for impact.

[sillymagpie.livejournal.com]

"Look! A cute cat in front of you! Take a picture and post it on the Internet!"