Tools like hands-free kits and Siri might mean that you don’t have to have your face constantly buried in your iPhone, but for most people the reality is that using a smartphone suggests your focus is not entirely on the real world around you.
Tackling this problem head-on is a place called Foreigner Street in Chongqing city, China, which has installed a special walking lane for smartphone users — just as might be the case with a cycle lane elsewhere.
Signs stenciled on the sidewalk note that people walking there should be aware that the people around them could well have lapses in attention, with a warning reading “CELLPHONES: WALK IN THIS LANE AT YOUR OWN RISK.”
A “NO CELLPHONES” sign meanwhile makes clear that there are parts of the sidewalk where people should put away their smartphones altogether.
As solutions go, it might be fixing a problem that doesn’t really exist, but with Apple planning to sell more of its next generation iPhones than ever before, maybe China is just taking the necessary proactive steps.
Source: Engadget
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Chinese city gives smartphone users their own sidewalk lane”
Why does that image look fake?
Oh, because they overlaid the image of the woman on the side walk then forgot about her size not being proportionate to the distance of the GIANT MAN off to the right.. yea.. I mean.. thats not a kid.. they have old lady sunglasses on.. common..
I doubt that they will pay enough attention to keep to their lanes.
I try to not look at my phone too long when walking the streets in China. I have seen too many people get their phones snatched because they were looking at their phones and not paying attention.