Editing Text messaging (section)

=== Texting while walking ===
Due to the proliferation of smart phone applications performed while walking, "texting while walking" or "wexting" is the increasing practice of people being transfixed to their mobile device without looking in any direction but their personal screen while walking. First coined reference in 2015 in New York from Rentrak's chief client officer<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://www.rentrak.com/downloads/exec_bios/RENTRAK_JeffBoehme-Bio.pdf
| title = Rentrak executive bios
| access-date = 29 February 2016
| archive-date = 31 March 2015
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150331024224/http://www.rentrak.com/downloads/exec_bios/RENTRAK_JeffBoehme-Bio.pdf
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> when discussing time spent with media and various media usage metrics. Text messaging among pedestrians leads to increased cognitive distraction and reduced situation awareness, and may lead to increases in unsafe behaviour leading to injury and death.<ref name="Lamberg">{{Cite journal
 | pmid = 22226937
| year = 2012
| last1 = Lamberg
| first1 = E. M.
| title = Cell phones change the way we walk
| journal = Gait & Posture
| volume = 35
| issue = 4
| pages = 688–90
| last2 = Muratori
| first2 = L. M.
| doi = 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2011.12.005
}}</ref><ref name="Licence2015" /> Recent studies conducted on cell phone use while walking showed that cell phone users recall fewer objects when conversing,<ref name="Nasar">{{Cite journal
 | pmid = 18215534
| year = 2008
| last1 = Nasar
| first1 = J
| title = Mobile telephones, distracted attention, and pedestrian safety
| journal = Accident Analysis & Prevention
| volume = 40
| issue = 1
| pages = 69–75
| last2 = Hecht
| first2 = P
| last3 = Wener
| first3 = R
| doi = 10.1016/j.aap.2007.04.005
}}</ref> walk slower,<ref name="Lamberg" /><ref name="Lopresti">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1002/acp.2846| title = Practicing Safe Text: The Impact of Texting on Walking Behavior| journal = Applied Cognitive Psychology| volume = 26| issue = 4| pages = 644–648| year = 2012| last1 = Lopresti-Goodman | first1 = S. M. | last2 = Rivera | first2 = A. | last3 = Dressel | first3 = C. }}</ref> have altered gait<ref name="Licence2015">{{cite journal|last1=Sammy Licence|title=Gait Pattern Alterations during Walking, Texting and Walking and Texting during Cognitively Distractive Tasks while Negotiating Common Pedestrian Obstacles|journal=[[PLOS One]]|date=29 July 2015|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0133281|pmid=26222430|pmc=4519241|display-authors=etal|volume=10|issue=7|pages=e0133281|bibcode=2015PLoSO..1033281L|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Uchiyama">{{cite journal|author=Uchiyama, M|author2= Demura, S. |author3= Natsuhori, E. |year=2012|title=Changes in gait properties during texting messages by a cell phone. Attention and gait control|journal= Gazzetta Medica Italiana: Archivio per le Scienze Mediche |volume=171 |issue=3|pages=331–340|url=http://www.minervamedica.it/en/journals/gazzetta-medica-italiana/article.php?cod=R22Y2012N03A0331}}</ref> and are more unsafe when crossing a street.<ref name="Nasar" /> Additionally, some gait analyses showed that stance phase during overstepping motion, longitudinal and lateral deviation increased during cell phone operation, but step length and clearance did not;<ref name="Lamberg" /><ref name="Uchiyama" /> a different analysis did find increased step clearance and reduced step length.<ref name="Licence2015" />

It is unclear which processes may be affected by distraction, which types of distraction may affect which cognitive processes, and how individual differences may affect the influence of distraction.<ref name=Schwebel>{{Cite journal
 | pmid = 22269509
| pmc = 3266515
| year = 2012
| last1 = Schwebel
| first1 = D. C.
| title = Distraction and pedestrian safety: How talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music impact crossing the street
| journal = Accident Analysis & Prevention
| volume = 45
| issue = 2
| pages = 266–71
| last2 = Stavrinos
| first2 = D
| last3 = Byington
| first3 = K. W.
| last4 = Davis
| first4 = T
| last5 = O'Neal
| first5 = E. E.
| last6 = De Jong
| first6 = D
| doi = 10.1016/j.aap.2011.07.011
}}</ref> Lamberg and Muratori believe that engaging in a dual-task, such as texting while walking, may interfere with working memory and result in walking errors.<ref name=Lamberg /> Their study demonstrated that participants engaged in text messaging were unable to maintain walking speed or retain accurate spatial information, suggesting an inability to adequately divide their attention between two tasks. According to them, the addition of texting while walking with vision occluded increases the demands placed on the working memory system resulting in gait disruptions.<ref name=Lamberg />

Texting on a phone distracts participants, even when the texting task used is a relatively simple one.<ref name=Lopresti /> Stavrinos ''[[et al.]]'' investigated the effect of other cognitive tasks, such as engaging in conversations or cognitive tasks on a phone, and found that participants actually have reduced visual awareness.<ref name=Stavrinos>{{cite journal | last1 = Stavrinos | first1 = D. | last2 = Byington | first2 = K. W. | last3 = Schwebel | first3 = D. C. | year = 2011 | title = Distracted walking: Cell phones increase injury risk for college pedestrians | journal = Journal of Safety Research | volume = 42 | issue = 2| pages = 101–107 | doi=10.1016/j.jsr.2011.01.004| pmid = 21569892 }}</ref> This finding was supported by Licence ''et al.'', who conducted a similar study.<ref name="Licence2015" /> For example, texting pedestrians may fail to notice unusual events in their environment, such as a unicycling clown.<ref name=Hyman>{{cite journal | last1 = Hyman | first1 = S.M. | last2 = Boss | first2 = I.E. | last3 = Wise | first3 = B.M. | last4 = McKenzie | first4 = K.E. | last5 = Caggiano | first5 = J.M. | year = 2010 | title = Did you see the unicycling clown? Inattentional blindness while walking and talking on a cell phone | journal = Applied Cognitive Psychology | volume = 29 | issue = 5| pages = 597–607 | doi=10.1002/acp.1638| s2cid = 55587908 }}</ref> These findings suggest that tasks that require the allocation of cognitive resources can affect visual attention even when the task itself does not require the participants to avert their eyes from their environment. The act of texting itself seems to impair pedestrians' visual awareness. It appears that the distraction produced by texting is a combination of both a cognitive and visual perceptual distraction.<ref name=Lopresti /> A study conducted by Licence ''et al.'' supported some of these findings, particularly that those who text while walking significantly alter their gait. However, they also found that the gait pattern texters adopted was slower and more "protective", and consequently did not increase obstacle contact or tripping in a typical pedestrian context.<ref name="Licence2015" />

There have also been technological approaches to increase the safety/awareness of pedestrians that are (unintentionally) blind while using a smartphone, e.g., using a [[Kinect]]<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Hincapié-Ramos|first1=Juan David|last2=Irani|first2=Pourang|title=CrashAlert: Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-busy Mobile Interaction While Walking|conference=SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems|date=1 January 2013|pages=3385–3388|doi=10.1145/2470654.2466463|isbn=9781450318990}}</ref> or an ultrasound phone cover<ref>{{cite news|title=Samsung Releasing Smartphone-Paired Technologies for Blind People|url=http://www.medgadget.com/2014/03/samsung-releasing-smartphone-paired-technologies-for-blind-people.html|website=medGadget|access-date=10 November 2016|date=17 March 2014}}</ref> as a virtual white cane, or using the built-in camera to algorithmically analyze single,<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Peng|first1=En|last2=Peursum|first2=Patrick|last3=Li|first3=Ling|last4=Venkatesh|first4=Svetha|title=Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing |chapter=A Smartphone-Based Obstacle Sensor for the Visually Impaired|conference=International Conference on Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing|volume=6406|date=26 October 2010|pages=590–604|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-16355-5_45|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|isbn=978-3-642-16354-8|hdl=20.500.11937/14536|hdl-access=free}}</ref> respectively a stream of pictures<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Foerster|first1=Klaus-Tycho|last2=Gross|first2=Alex|last3=Hail|first3=Nino|last4=Uitto|first4=Jara|last5=Wattenhofer|first5=Roger|title=SpareEye: Enhancing the Safety of Inattentionally Blind Smartphone Users|conference=13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia|date=1 January 2014|pages=68–72|doi=10.1145/2677972.2677973|isbn=9781450333047}}</ref> for obstacles, with Wang ''et al.'' proposing to use machine learning to specifically detect incoming vehicles.<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Wang|first1=Tianyu|last2=Cardone|first2=Giuseppe|last3=Corradi|first3=Antonio|last4=Torresani|first4=Lorenzo|last5=Campbell|first5=Andrew T.|title=WalkSafe: A Pedestrian Safety App for Mobile Phone Users Who Walk and Talk While Crossing Roads|conference=Twelfth Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems & Applications|date=1 January 2012|pages=5:1–5:6|doi=10.1145/2162081.2162089|isbn=9781450312073}}</ref>