In an echo of the cell-phone scares that have been with us for years (driving, honey bees, cancer), the NY Times today headlines, As Text Messages Fly, Danger Lurks:
[T]exting at the wrong time can be extremely dangerous. Over the last two years, news accounts across the country have chronicled the death or serious injury of people who walk into traffic while texting or who drive while doing so. Police officials said last year that a crash that killed five cheerleaders in upstate New York might have been linked to texting. A recent Nationwide Insurance survey of 1,503 drivers found that almost 40 percent of those respondents from 16 to 30 years old said they text while driving…
Further, a group representing emergency room doctors issued a warning in July against texting while doing other activities, citing a rise in injuries and deaths seen in emergency rooms around the country stemming from texting.
Text messaging has increased dramatically in the US. 75 billion text messages were sent last June, up from 7.2 billion in June 2005. And texting now significantly surpasses voice calling. In the second quarter of this year Americans each sent or received 357 text messages a month, compared with 204 phone calls.
Lawmakers are taking action to restrict where messaging is allowed and parents have asked for blocks on when their children can get and send text messages.
Meanwhile, recent reports of skyrocketing rates (AT&T’s per-text plan works out to over $1,300 per megabyte) caused US Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, to send a letter to the four remaining wireless carriers.
Ars Technica spoke with an anonymous subcommittee staffer who said the “letter is more of an opening of the discussion about these issues” for now. “We have an open line, and we aren’t condemning them without hearing what they have to say.” The carriers have until October 6 to respond.
In Europe a similar inquiry is working its way through the European Commission. There they seek to cap rates at 15¢ per. Techdirt’s Michael Masnick calls all of it a trumped-up-controversy with gov’t stepping in and complaining where there’s no real problem:
[M]ost folks who use text messaging on a regular basis have signed up for some sort of bulk texting plan, that allows them to send hundreds of messages for a set price. The a la carte text message pricing is really only for those who rarely, if ever, use text messaging. Furthermore, if the mobile operators really are constraining the market and push things too far by driving the price even higher, then there are many alternatives that will quickly show up. As we’ve discussed in the past, it’s only a matter of time until other options for messaging become popular on phones, such as instant messaging clients — which can provide service for free.
“Free” is a tricky phrase. Included in your data plan is more likely. As to the safety issue, assuming you’ve come to believe that talking on a cellphone is safer than texting (or live in a state that requires hands-free) the market already offers up some interesting options.
I use Jott, a terrific voice to text service — once converted to text, your message can be delivered via email or SMS — that just very successfully came out of beta. Another new service, Message Sling, allows people to send dictated text messages, use voice to reply to e-mail messages, and listen to text-based messages.
SMS texting, like your cellphone, is not going away anytime soon. We’d best get used it.