TV crew takes to campus for another reenactment of Ira Hyman's research into cell phone distractions

A reporter and cameraman from TV station News10 in Sacramento, Calif., were on campus Monday, Jan. 24, to film Western Washington University professor Ira Hyman and to re-stage (with WWU's Joe Myers on unicycle) Hyman's research on the distractions of cell phone use. The TV station's report will air in the next couple of weeks, said Lorraine Blanco, News10 weekend anchor and reporter.

The segment filmed at WWU will be part of the show's "The Great Hang Up" series, which campaigns against distracted driving.

According to Hyman's research, people talking on their cell phones are more than twice as oblivious as those not on their phones.

In his research, Hyman documented real-world examples of people who were so distracted by their cell phones that they failed to see the bizarre occurrence of a unicycling clown passing them as they walked. The study is published in a recent issue of the journal “Applied Cognitive Psychology.”

“If people experience so much difficulty performing the task of walking when on a cell phone, just think of what this means when put into the context of driving safety,” Hyman said. “People should not drive while talking on a cell phone.”

In Hyman’s study, just 25 percent of people talking on their cell phones saw the unicycling clown, whereas more than half of people walking alone, people listening to portable music players and people walking in pairs saw the clown.

“Cell phone use causes people to be oblivious to their surroundings while engaged in even a simple task such as walking,” Hyman said. “Cell phone users walk more slowly, change directions and weave more often and fail to notice interesting and novel objects. The effect appears to be caused by the distraction of a cell phone conversation, because people walking in pairs did not display the same range of problems.”

Another finding of the study, Hyman said, is that a person’s familiarity with his or her environment does not eliminate the effects of cell phone use on navigation.