The Technological Divide

Driving While Texting is now illegal in the Commonwealth (not State, mind) of Massachusetts.  This new law interests me because it is further evidence of my theory about The Technological Divide.

Here is my theory:  There is a sharp Technological Divide in this country between people who were born more than a few years before me and people who were born more than a few years after me.  (People born around 1966 (a fine year) are in No Man's Land, some tilting to one side of the Divide, some to the other.)  The Technological Divide is a sharp difference in the reaction to new technology.

I was 10 when I got my first Atari.  I used a PC to play computer games in high school (though we didn't own one--I couldn't afford a PC until I was in grad school); I used the UNIX system at the UC Davis when I was an undergrad.  In other words, I came of age exactly when computers were starting to become consumer goods.  Everyone born a little bit after me grew up in a world in which computers were consumer goods;  everyone before me grew up before computers were consumer goods.  Growing up with computers, it turns out, increases one's ability and inclination to learn about new technology.  Take a person from each side of the Technological Divide and sit them in front of a new computer game or hand them a new gadget.  Those on one side of the technological divide will start fiddling with new item and figure out how it works.  Those on the other side will, at best, at best look around for a printed owner's manual or, more likely, just freeze up and not know what to do with the item.  [And, there are of course exceptions--there are people on the older side of the Divide who are quite adept at using new technology and technophobes on the young side--but there are remarkably few exceptions in my experience.]

The Technological Divide plays out in many curious ways, but to return to the matter at hand, the new law against texting while driving is a perfect example of it.  People on one side of the Technological Divide find texting to be difficult, time-intensive, and something requiring great amounts of concentration.  People on the other side of the technological divide can text with one hand while thinking about something else.  So, the people on the Old side of the Technological Divide think texting while driving is one of the most dangerous things that can be done; the people on the Young side don't see why texting is even a problem.

Now, it is fairly obvious to anyone with Wisdom that texting while operating a motor vehicle is exercising something less than perfect Good Sense and Caution.  I am happy to report that I have never once texted while Driving and the new law will have precisely zero effect on my behavior.  However, it is the fact that this particular act has been deemed illegal which intrigues me.  Using a cell phone to talk while driving is still legal.  Why the difference?  I do not think it is coincidental that people on the Old side of the Technological Divide use their cell phones for talking; cell phones used for talking are a lot like land lines, which predate the Technological Divide.  (People on the Young side of the Technological Divide use their phones for many purposes other than talking by the way; indeed, talking is not even the primary use of the cell phone for many people on the Young side of the Technological Divide.)  So, the people who make the Laws have outlawed an action which they find confusing and time intensive, while allowing an action which they find convenient and easy.

So, again, let us agree that texting while driving is distracting.  But so is dealing with screaming kids in the backseat (still legal), fiddling with the radio (still legal), engaging in an engrossing conversation with a passenger (still legal), reading a book while driving (still legal), applying makeup while driving (still legal), eating while driving (still legal, even if you are eating a very messy sandwich), driving while extremely tired (still legal), and so on ad nauseum.  What makes all these different from driving while texting?  It is not the level of distraction--it is hard to imagine anything more distracting than a screaming infant in the backseat in a rear-facing infant car seat, yet there has been no law to ban infants from cars.  The difference between texting and all those other activities is that texting while driving is not the sort of thing done by people on the Old side of the Technological Divide; it is new and thus suspect; it is done only by people on the Young side of the Technological Divide, and thus it was a simple matter to outlaw the practice.

While I have been noticing the Technological Divide for some time now, this is the first time I can recall of legislation marking the Divide.

And, for your enjoyment, here is the anthem of the Old Side of the Technological Divide.