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Your nervous system is activated even more when walking: firing dozens of muscles for gait, even more for balance, reacting to sounds and movement around you, a

Your nervous system is activated even more when walking: firing dozens of muscles for gait, even more for balance, reacting to sounds and movement around you, adjusting to different surfaces, wind, inclination, stairs, avoiding obstacles etc. Yet most people manage to take relaxing walks somehow.

atwood22 4y ago
Driving a car is a life or death situation where you’re engaged in a complex dance with many other people. The cognitive load isn’t even close.
- pandaman 4y ago
  So is walking down a street: not only can you become a victim of crime or mauled by an animal but a simple fall can kill you. People are different and as some are extremely stressed being outside, some are, too, stressed while driving. Most people manage both just fine though.
  - tmnvix 4y ago
    > not only can you become a victim of crime or mauled by an animal but a simple fall can kill you. Interesting that these are the dangers you bring attention to. Forefront of my mind are the large heavy objects hurtling around.
    - pandaman 4y ago
      I'd expect people to immediately start the "cars are too damn big!" routine if I brought up traffic and the guidelines advise against posting inflammatory content. The point I'm making is even a relaxing walk in a park is "a complex dance of life and death".
  - atwood22 4y ago
    I don't think you're being genuine. Even if walking down the street was filled with personal peril (it's not, at least not the persistent peril of driving), you're still discounting the fact that making a mistake while driving can kill other people. How can I accidentally kill someone when walking down the street and spacing out? While driving on the highway, basically any multi-second lapse in judgement can cause fatalities, not just of yourself but of many others. Operating a multi-ton machine at high speed is definitely more cognitively demanding.
    - pandaman 4y ago
      I genuinely believe that you consider driving more stressful than walking. I know for sure that many people don't. If you have time you can walk to the nearest busy intersection, stand and observe drivers. You will see that many are talking on the phone or with the passengers, check their phones, apply makeup and act in many other ways incongruent with the behavior of people in mortal danger. Moreso, people routinely fall asleep while driving and I am not aware of people falling asleep while walking. This implies that driving is more relaxing than walking.
      - atwood22 4y ago
        How is checking your phone incongruous with being in a stressful situation? I was very stressed while my partner gave birth. I still checked my phone. And plenty of people walking check their phones. And those who walk and use their phone likely use their phone more competently than those who drive and use their phone. That implies walking has less mental overhead. And how does falling asleep imply relaxation? If anything, falling asleep implies mental fatigue. So we can assume driving adds more mental strain. There are entire studies done on driver visual search patterns when driving [0]. What kind of visual search pattern do you use when walking? Are you constant scanning the horizon looking for potential hazards? In fact, walking is generally considered to be an automated activity [1]. [0]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16127339/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16127339/ [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879139/

atwood22 4y ago

Driving a car is a life or death situation where you’re engaged in a complex dance with many other people. The cognitive load isn’t even close.

pandaman 4y ago
So is walking down a street: not only can you become a victim of crime or mauled by an animal but a simple fall can kill you. People are different and as some are extremely stressed being outside, some are, too, stressed while driving. Most people manage both just fine though.
- tmnvix 4y ago
  > not only can you become a victim of crime or mauled by an animal but a simple fall can kill you. Interesting that these are the dangers you bring attention to. Forefront of my mind are the large heavy objects hurtling around.
  - pandaman 4y ago
    I'd expect people to immediately start the "cars are too damn big!" routine if I brought up traffic and the guidelines advise against posting inflammatory content. The point I'm making is even a relaxing walk in a park is "a complex dance of life and death".
- atwood22 4y ago
  I don't think you're being genuine. Even if walking down the street was filled with personal peril (it's not, at least not the persistent peril of driving), you're still discounting the fact that making a mistake while driving can kill other people. How can I accidentally kill someone when walking down the street and spacing out? While driving on the highway, basically any multi-second lapse in judgement can cause fatalities, not just of yourself but of many others. Operating a multi-ton machine at high speed is definitely more cognitively demanding.
  - pandaman 4y ago
    I genuinely believe that you consider driving more stressful than walking. I know for sure that many people don't. If you have time you can walk to the nearest busy intersection, stand and observe drivers. You will see that many are talking on the phone or with the passengers, check their phones, apply makeup and act in many other ways incongruent with the behavior of people in mortal danger. Moreso, people routinely fall asleep while driving and I am not aware of people falling asleep while walking. This implies that driving is more relaxing than walking.
    - atwood22 4y ago
      How is checking your phone incongruous with being in a stressful situation? I was very stressed while my partner gave birth. I still checked my phone. And plenty of people walking check their phones. And those who walk and use their phone likely use their phone more competently than those who drive and use their phone. That implies walking has less mental overhead. And how does falling asleep imply relaxation? If anything, falling asleep implies mental fatigue. So we can assume driving adds more mental strain. There are entire studies done on driver visual search patterns when driving [0]. What kind of visual search pattern do you use when walking? Are you constant scanning the horizon looking for potential hazards? In fact, walking is generally considered to be an automated activity [1]. [0]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16127339/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16127339/ [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879139/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879139/