Study Proves: It's Not Your Phone That Distracts You - It's Her's

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Why does it drive you nuts when other people around you are yakking away on their cell phones? It’s not the noise that distracts you. It’s hearing only one half on the conversation that is driving you mad. That according to a study by scientists at Cornell University, to be published in the journal Psychological Science. It could seriously impair your driving …

Their study shows that overhearing a cell phone conversation affects our attention to other tasks, reports Reuters.

The “results suggest that a driver’s attention can be impaired by a passenger’s cell phone conversation,” says the study. Hush, nobody tell LaHood. He’s liable to ban cell phone use by your copilot, such as not to divert your mind from the dangers of the road ahead.

On second thought, that might he a good thing.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • John Fritz John Fritz on May 22, 2010

    Am I understanding the presentation correctly? So the 'jammer' has to practically stand next to the 'jammee' before the 'jammerator' begins to work? Seems to me that modern technology (being what it is) should be able to provide a tool with a bit more range to it than the one demonstrated.

  • Golden2husky Golden2husky on May 22, 2010

    I bought a cell phone jammer during my days of riding the railroad. Kept it off for the most part, figuring that riders had a right to talk on the phone. But when they got loud and incessant, BAM!! Sweet silence!! Far and away my best $300ever spent!! Now if there was a way to jam those damn loud iPods...

    • PeriSoft PeriSoft on May 22, 2010

      When my dad was in college (back in the '60s) the guy in the next room over had this radio he'd play really loudly in the evening. After repeated requests for silence were ignored, my dad built an FM jammer, which would cut out a specific range. The guy sat across the room from his radio to study, so he'd tune his radio and sit down... so, one evening, my dad tweaks the jammer until the station goes away. Guy walks over, fixes the tuning... A minute later, he tweaks it again. After ten minutes of rinse and repeat, the guy screams and throws his radio on the floor. Problem solved.

  • Panzerfaust Panzerfaust on May 23, 2010

    I'm sure some of the ladies in the audience will say that its because men cannot multi-task. But its more complicated than that, any man that's had a wife or girlfriend for any amount of time has had the proverbial Pavlovian bell "are you listening to me?" pounded into us. So while we're not supposed to be listening to your phone conversation (because its private) we're supposed to be listening in case you ask 'did you hear what I said," so that we can carry on the conversation.

  • Ronman Ronman on May 24, 2010

    I hate it when people drive and talk on the phone in my surroundings, especially when maneouvring and drifting in the process. and i always thought of investing in a jammer, but then i thought that would make things worse because when people loose their call, they tend to look at the phone itself to see what's the matter and being preoccupied even more... making them even more dangerous behind the wheel of a moving car... so i'm thinking about another solution

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