A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age

Our roads are unsafe because of distracted driving. If behaviors do not change it is only a matter of time before everyone experiences the tragic loss of a loved one. My daughter was run over by a 43 year old driver. He didn’t know what (who) he hit. And, he never took responsibility, didn’t get a ticket or a day in jail.

I just finished A Deadly Wandering last night and was very moved by it for a number of reasons that I am still contemplating. This is a very well written, absorbing, enlightening and factually well supported non-fiction novel. I found it hard to put down, but even more importantly, found it extremely relevant to my life and my work.I have not been an in-car texter for a decade now, having realized very early how dangerous it is, but was thrilled last year when my new car came with hands-free ("legal" in CA) phone capabilities, which I have used on occasion. After reading the book and internalizing the sobering science of attention, I turned off the Bluetooth on my new iPhone 6 before getting into the car this morning.I have a super long commute to and from work each day and, like many, consider those hours “productive time” when able to take a work call or catch up with a relative or friend while commuting. However, I will now not be using my phone in the car while in motion ever again.People's lives and safety are unquestionably more important than any of the multi-tasking conveniences these increasingly capable devices can bring us in our busy lives and I do not want to end up like the book’s protagonist, Reggie Shaw. So, through Matt Richtel, that young man with a tragic past has touched one more life.For folks like myself who have worked in the internet technology industry, and particularly the mobile industry, since its early days, it is really moving to read a true story about how these technologies are distracting people even to the point of death either in traffic causing horrendous and preventable accidents or in their personal lives, with children tuning-out, relationships being eroded and very real and unnecessary stress being added to our lives with the gadgets and services demanding or even addictively sucking away your attention.Having spent most of my career working for the biggest names in mobile evangelizing mobile technologies like texting, mobile internet, mobile navigation, and mobile apps, I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility for increasing awareness for this important new scientific evidence for technology’s impact on attention, awareness, brain function and brain health. There are positives and negative implications and possibilities and as a society should make raise awareness of both and take action. Awareness is an opportunity to find solutions.As a yogi, a meditator and a stepmother, I also see the impact of technology on our selves, our relationships and on our children. We must think about how our children use these technologies and monitor whether we feel they are helping or harming our or their personal physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing.I believe this is an important book and I hope that others will take the time to read it and to examine their own relationship to technology, that of their families and, if relevant, in their work.

Matt Richtel tells the story of Reggie Shaw, a college student in Utah, who fatally struck two rocket scientists as he was texting and driving. One of the first cases on texting and driving that was actually prosecuted, Richtel uses this example to explore the wider issue of attention and how our digital life affects our brains and the way we make decisions.In the book Richtel interacts with leading neuroscientists to discover how our use of smartphones and tablets are affecting the way we think. In this example he shows how powerful our devices are. “There are few impulses as basic and inescapable as the one that urges you to turn around if someone taps on your shoulder. You must discover if the person is an opportunity or a threat. When your phone rings, it is a proverbial tap on the shoulder. You want to find out who it is. You need to. Your bottom-up survival system demands it.” (p. 215)But our devices don't just ring when someone calls us. They are designed to send pings and dings to us whenever we receive a text, a message, or an alert from our favorite news source. As a result we live in a constant state of distraction.When coupled with driving, this creates a dangerous mix. Reggie’s story illuminates the problem with texting and driving. Most people just don’t send one text. In fact, texting, especially if it is done in the midst of a heated argument or intense debate is an ongoing discussion. Before he crossed into the wrong lane and crashed into the oncoming car, Reggie had been involved in a series of texts with his girlfriend.Dr. David Strayer, a researcher in the area of attention and performance, gave testimony at Reggie’s trial. What he said is worth repeating. In his research he used an important term, “inattention blindness.” He said, “Depending on the complexity of the driving task, it may take fifteen seconds or more after you’ve push ‘send’ before you’re fully back in an unimpaired state.” (p. 274)Reggie, who had been having problems remembering what had led to the crash came to a revealing thought after hearing Dr. Strayer’s testimony. “What if I was so preoccupied that I actually didn’t know what was going on?” (p. 275)And that is the problem. As much as we would like to think we can handle multiple inputs at the same time, our brains are not designed for the demands of the digital age. We can only focus on one thing at a time.A Deadly Wandering is a must read as its narrative style brings home the point that texting and driving do not mix. This a message that needs to be shared, especially with our youngest generation, the iKids, whose leading edge will be getting behind the wheel next year.

A real "heads up" read. Awareness re major hazards of distracted driving.Real people stories make it very impressive indeed.

Ouvrage bien documenté. L'impossibilité, pour le cerveau, de se concentrer sur deux tâches en même temps - conduire et téléphoner ou envoyer des mail - est bien démontrée. Il y a encore peu de prise de conscience, notamment en France, de la dangerosité d'un tel comportement, qui est à mettre au même niveau que la conduite en état d'ébriété ou le non respect de code de la route (vitesse par exemple). Ce livre veut montrer que l'utilisation compulsive et forcenée d'outils médiatiques (téléphone portable notamment) crée une dépendance, au même titre que la cigarette, l'alcool ou les drogues, et peut provoquer des situations dangereuses pour soi-même et pour les autres.A méditer, car tout le monde est concerné. Un moment d'inattention sur la route peut faire de nous des criminels.CGK

運転しながらのメールやスマホ操作（いわゆるtexting while driving）を罰することができるかという問題の嚆矢のようなケースを扱った本です。真面目で信心深い好青年が引き起こした事故で、2006年に２人が亡くなりました。この事件について、捜査や裁判、そして人間模様のドラマと、心理学や神経科学といった科学とが絶妙に織りなされて語られています。ドラマの方はさておき、科学の方は、注意（attention）についての心理学的な研究の歴史や、スマホやメールのような科学技術製品が常習性を持つもの（addictive）なのかということについての脳神経学の研究です。このような科学的な問題を扱っていますが、素人にはついて行けないような細部にまでは立ち入らずに、事件に必要な部分を上手に取捨選択しています。ドラマの要素ともうまく噛み合って、読みやすい語り口です。私の持っている版には宣伝文として "Deserves a spot next to Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird" という New York Times Book Review の書評の一節が引用されていますが、決して誇大宣伝ではないと思います。邦訳マット・リヒテル『神経ハイジャック：もしも「注意力」が奪われたら』（小塚一宏・三木俊哉訳, 英治出版, 2016）

Poorly written book and even more poorly edited! Paragraphs repeated and there were plenty of errors. Tones/stories/characters all jumped around and there was no cohesive narrative.