Jane Lynch Says No to Texting While Driving
With recent studies citing that mobile distractions such as texting can be even more dangerous than drinking and driving, parents are looking for answers on how to best educate and promote responsible mobile phone use to their teens.
As part of her role in the LG Text Ed campaign, an educational program aimed at parents, actress Jane Lynch shot a series of entertaining and educational viral videos for LG Mobile Phones about mobile phone misuse.
With the goal of educating parents about the importance of talking to their kids about responsible mobile phone use, the LG Text Ed video series addresses issues such as “sexting,” mobile harassment and text etiquette, while helping parents learn how to use mobile phones to communicate better with their kids.
[ Also Read: Lemme Sleep When I am at the Wheel ]In the series finale, Jane drives right to the point and addressees the potentially damaging consequences of texting while driving.
In an eye-opening study conducted by LG Mobile Phones, 70 percent of teens accuse their parents of texting while driving, while only 44 percent of parents actually admitted to the behavior.
[ Also Read: Leaders Join Hands for Online Safety of Youth ]In a similar study conducted by the Pew Research Center, presented during the Federal Communication Commission’s recent Generation Mobile Forum, 40 percent of teens said they’ve been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.
In the texting while driving video, Lynch confronts a classroom of parents about their own texting and driving bad habits and urges parents to model good behavior for their children.
[ Also Read: Say Yes to Dancing, No to Smoking ]Using humor to get to the heart of the issue, Lynch helps parents help themselves by putting the phone away in the car and encouraging their kids to do the same.
“With 45 percent of teens admitting to texting and driving, it’s more important than ever that we provide parents with the tools to educate and promote safe and responsible driving habits,” said Tim O’Brien, vice president of consumer and trade marketing.
“Through LGTextEd.com, parents have a centralized resource they can use to help keep their children safe when it comes to mobile phone use.”
Through the LG Text Ed Web site, www.lgtexted.com, parents can educate themselves about the dangers of texting while driving as well as learn strategies to use to help protect their children.
Parents can also view the full Jane Lynch series including the newest Texting While Driving video on the Web site.
I think Ms. Lynch’s effort will help drivers get the message. It has to start with the end user, the driver…deciding not to partake in distracted driving and this will help drive that message home. Jane asks if anyone else had any ideas…
I also decided to do something about teen (and adult) distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool for teens and their parents called OTTER that is a simple, GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app