Texting While Driving Habit

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Dolphin

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How do I break this habit? Even with the vibrator off it’s so easy to want to check the phone and send a quick message or read a quick message.

I have my phone by me for music/podcasts and because I charge it when I drive. I believe this is a sin to text and drive and I have confessed it once or twice. Any advice?
 
Someone I know wanted to break her habit, so she put her phone in a bag in the back seat; away from her reach. She found other ways to get her music and such to her radio.
 
Maybe try turning off the text notifications while you drive, and turn them on and check them once you’re out of the car.
 
If you have anything like a bag or a compartment, you could store the phone someplace safe that way you don’t see or feel vibrations. If you have a passenger with you, you could hand the phone to them to hold while you drive and let them know not to give it to you until you are safely parked in a location.
I always try to keep mine in my purse in the passenger seat on silent while I drive.
 
For other reasons, I transferred my music to a thumb drive dedicated for this purpose and plugged that into the USB port in the car. This keeps the phone functions away from me while I drive. I put the phone somewhere out of my reach when I’m at the wheel. Perhaps this would be a solution for you.

If you need to charge the phone while you’re driving, get a cable long enough to permit you to plug the phone in yet place it out of your reach (back seat, trunk, etc.)
 
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You also may be able to set your phone to read texts to you while you drive. Hands free.
 
Yeah. Just prepare to hear emojis read aloud. My dad found that out the hard way with his cousin, who sent at least ten emojis in one message. He listened as the phone read “Dog emoji, Read heart emoji,…”
 
Maybe this will help - a relative of mine had his phone nearby while driving and looked down to view a preview of a text message. Within a second the car hit ice and was wrapped around a lamppost. His passenger was left without the use of his legs and now has to use a wheelchair. That’s what the passenger and my relative has to live with.
 
It could quite possibly be a mortal sin to text and drive as by doing so it places the lives of others at risk. Having witnessed the consequences several times it can certainly be called fatal.
 
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snarflemike said:
Put the phone in the back seat.
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This. And silenced.

Even if it’s nothing more than a cop seeing you and giving you a ticket, your addiction (and that’s what it is) will eventually catch up with you, and not in a positive way.

D
 
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Do you rely on your phone for GPS and directions?

I don’t have a Smartphone, (honestly - to avoid the addiction factor). I always print out Mapquest directions. If I’m driving alone, I study them carefully before leaving and then only peek at the next step at a stoplight. If I’m accompanied, one of my kids reads them off to me.

I was just brainstorming a way to keep the phone far and gone from you while still finding your way to places!
 
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Charge it at home always.

Put it in the back seat, either in the pockets behind the seat, or in a bag.

My car allows me to access my phone through the radio. If you have that option, you can listen to podcasts, but through the car radio, not the phone. Keep it in the back seat.
 
Considering you say you have a problem with checking your phone while driving, don’t even attempt stop lights. It’ll just feed into your need to check your phone.

Put it out of reach while driving and don’t look at it again until you’ve parked.
 
You never need to read text, or worse yet, to be texting, while you’re driving. Full stop.

If someone calls me, and it is going to be any sort of extended conversation, I pull over and park, so that I do not have to divide my attention. And always, always, speakerphone.
 
Dolphin said:
How do I break this habit? Even with the vibrator off it’s so easy to want to check the phone and send a quick message or read a quick message.

I have my phone by me for music/podcasts and because I charge it when I drive. I believe this is a sin to text and drive and I have confessed it once or twice. Any advice?
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Anytime something has become compulsive, it helps to make it more difficult to access.

So:

Putting something out of visual sight
Putting something in a harder to reach location

It doesn’t keep you from getting it, but it gives a boost to your willpower.
 
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