5 ms·
Disagree. I love listening to audiobooks and podcasts while driving, and I love being able to just follow the GPS directions on auto pilot, trusting it will do
by pugio 7y ago
Disagree. I love listening to audiobooks and podcasts while driving, and I love being able to just follow the GPS directions on auto pilot, trusting it will do a decent job, and warn be me when the appropriate turn approaches.
When navigating sans GPS I spend much more time rehearsing routes and turns in my head, which means I have to pause or rewind my audiobook.
- jacquesm 7y agoYou should have your full attention on the road, not on your audiobook. I hope that if you ever get into an accident you will be frank about it and tell the other party - assuming they -- and you -- survive - that you were distracted.
- scrollaway 7y agoI got a bit of a "yikes" at reading the parent comment as well but how is it actually any different from listening to the radio, which has been a thing drivers have done ever since we put radios in automobiles? Unlike "handsfree phones", listening to a podcast doesn't require interaction and full attention (although it does sound like GP is giving too much of theirs).
- jacquesm 7y agoAn audiobook is an immersive experience, it engages your imagination (if the audiobook is any good at all), listening to the radio (assuming they don't read well written full length books on the radio) is not.
- TillE 7y agoRadio dramas have been extremely popular in many places since forever. So have "books on tape". It's utterly bizarre to make these kinds of accusations.
- jacquesm 7y agoWhat's bizarre about it? Driving is a full-time occupation, not a part-time occupation. If you have to do it do it responsibly. In complex situations listening to audiobooks is a dangerous affair, in simple situations it may improve attention but simple situations can turn complex in a hurry in a moving vehicle. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29223795 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29223795
- usrusr 7y agoRadio shows are almost universally made to be randomly tuned in and out, whereas books are written under the assumption that you never skip a line, pausing and even re-reading as necessary. Audiobooks are sitting in an awkward position between them, carrying over all the assumptions of the printed book into a medium of forced time. This is very similar to how talking to someone in the car is much less distracting than taking on hands-free: even the worst passenger will take more cues from the traffic situation about when it's ok to talk, when not to expect an immediate reply and so on than someone behind a phone line. Sure, an audiobook is less bad than many other driving distractions, but still a whole different league than radio (and also many podcasts I guess).
- nielsole 7y agoI would argue the opposite. Audiobooks/podcasts keep me alert in dull driving situations. And whenever a situation arises that demands my full attention, I (subconsciously) stop paying attention to the audio for ~30s until the situation is fully resolved. I would say it net-increases safety at least on long-distance/commute.
- jacquesm 7y agoYou can tell yourself that but your time to switch away from having your attention on your audiobooks/podcasts (the latter probably less so, they are much more like radio) is going to be longer than if you weren't concentrating on them. Immersive experiences tend to make us see stuff in our heads that isn't really there depending on how good the writer/narrator is at calling on our imagination. So unless the audiobook is really bad it is going to require some non-zero fraction of your attention and imagination engaged and that's about as close to daydreaming as you can get. Not the best state to be in while driving.