14 EDITORIAL

Just shut up and DRIVEStudents warned against distracted driving

Statistics are just num-bers until they involve you. You have heard it everywhere, see it daily, but for some reason it just does not ring true. ‘LOL’, ‘on my way’, ‘down the street’, ‘:)’, any of these messages seem simple enough that most teens could type them with their eyes closed. When you text and drive that is what you are doing, clos-ing your eyes to the road, to everything around you.

Texting while driving will kill you. I could spout off scary statistics, straight up tell you not to do it, but that is just some girl on newspaper talk-ing. That really couldn’t happen to you… or could it? As one of the so called “texting generation,” I know that I couldn’t live my life without texting, but texting while driving is a different story.

Anytime you take your eyes off the road to read a text, respond, check for a message, you are just asking for a wreck. Some teens think that they can text and drive as long as their eyes are on the road. While it is true that their eyes are on the road, their mind is on the text.

If a car were to stop

short and you were texting, even if you were looking at the road, your reaction time would be slowed to a point where you could not avoid a wreck. Large corpora-tions such as AllState, Oprah, AT&T, and bill-boards across the country all preach the same mes-sage “Is that text worth your life?” The answer will always be no, but the problem is that most people don’t think it is true. They don’t believe it is them. They can’t die from texting. They text, they know people who text and none of them have ever gotten hurt. If you do know someone who wrecked while tex-ting and driving, chances are they are not around anymore to tell you about it.

So if you don’t listen to statistics, warnings, Oprah, or me, and if you won’t put down the phone long enough to drive, do it for someone else. Your mother, your father, your sister, broth-er, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandmother, grandfather, friends, anyone, do it for them. Anyone who loves you wants the best for you, and if texting them back has to wait that is okay because you will still be alive when they receive your message.

Parents, teachers, and staff, this message ap-plies to you too. You may have been driving longer, but it still doesn’t make texting while driving any safer for you.

Technology is a prominent factor in our lives. We use it just about everyday, and pretty much all day. The problem just may be that we may be be-coming too attached to technology. If this trend continues, the problems could become more se-vere and a solution may not be as evident. I feel that we can change this trend if we can change how we use technology now.

As of right now, in this present time, I think that Americans rely too much on technology in our daily lives. The problem is that we have taken a

nose dive into a pool of iPods, iPhones, and game consoles, and some of us may not know how to swim. With all this new stuff being invented, it’s hard not to want it and be fascinated by what it can do. I believe that because we have all of this technology we are letting it run our lives, and we are just becom-ing puppets on a string.

Another problem that technology depen-dence is presenting is that we don’t have to go anywhere in our day. Instead of going to see our friends, we just stay home and text them all day. We can see what everyone is doing on Facebook, so we don’t have to go out and find out for ourselves. That is the problem with all the technology; it brings the world to us, not us to the world.

Don’t get me wrong, technology has its benefits as well. It is a convenience for

emergencies and work. It allows for easier long distance communica-tion and expression. It allows for individual-ity and uniqueness in our lives. Most people work all day in front of computers, as I am now, trying to commu-nicate with the masses. Technology is a good thing, but like all good things, too much can be bad.

The solution to this problem is as simple as simple can be, put it down. Put down the phone for a while and go do something with-out it. Go and explore the world around you and see the world in its natural beauty. We can be a part of the world without the help of technology, and it’s easy to do. If we can change how we use technology today, I think it will help our future drastically. How we use technology defines us a society, because it can make or break us.

HILLARY BRINDELL

WADE BRASHER

Technocrazy

15NEWSMARCH 2011

Student athletes signChris McKnight Sarah Spence

Senior Football Player Chris McKnight signs on with Tyler Junior College, surrounded by family and friends. Senior Soccer player Sarah Spence signs her letter of intent to go to Louisiana Tech.

On Feb 2. two of Cypress Ranch’s athletes signed letters of intent for college. Chris McKnight, senior, signed on to be a football player at Tyler Junior College. While senior Sarah Spence signed to be a soccer player at Louisiana Tech. Other football players were also honored at the signing ceremony. Mike Vitello will be walking onto Blinn Junior College, Eric Kelly will be walking on at Trinity University and Zach Dehaven will be walking on at Sam Houston State. Also honored at the signing ceremony, Senior Ben Walker will soon be signing his letter of intent depending on his acceptance to Princeton University.

HILLARY BRINDELL

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