Walk This Way

The true-life stories sound like jokes with the same punch line: Why did the man almost walk into a bear? Why did the woman tumble into a fountain? Why did the tourist fall off a pier?

Because the man, the woman and the tourist were all so engrossed in their cell phones that they had ceased paying attention to their surroundings. With people more tethered than ever to smartphones, "distracted walking" is becoming enough of a problem that American cities are taking steps to curb it. "People are out there, and they're just not paying attention, no matter what we say,"...

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