OHMYGAWD, is sharing EVERYTHING suddenly new?

By Kavita Varma-White

My 13-year-old daughter – a newly minted Instagramaniac – recently shared a picture of the old-fashioned bottle of Sprite she was drinking and 16 people “liked” it; a picture of her blue and white painted nails and a beach sunset snap fetched more than 20 likes.

So far, I’m not too concerned about what she’s sharing online.

Now, if she was bragging about our trip on a private jet (which we don’t have) while feasting on a lavish spread of food on the way to Fiji (where we’ve never been), I might get worried.

That may have been what tweaked computer mogul -- and dad of four -- Michael Dell. His daughter Alexa Dell posted a photo of her brother Zachary on said private jet, eating said feast, on the way to said exotic locale. The picture showed up on “Rich Kids of Instagram,” a Tumblr that chronicles the conspicuous consumption by children of the super-wealthy. (Think waterslides off yachts, $100,000 bar tabs, kids on helicopters and hashtags like #mansion, #dom, #ferrari and #hamptons.) Soon afterward, Alexa's Twitter account was shut down.

More...

Werner Herzog certainly has his playful side, but “stern and serious” might be his most natural tone. That makes him an ideal director to craft a simple but very effective message about the dangers of texting while driving. The Grizzly Man director contributes to AT&T’s “It Can Wait” ad campaign with this short promo featuring a mother and her son, who was gravely injured by a driver who failed to keep her eyes on the road. The subjects and their story are powerful, and Herzog presents them in an elegant, unforgettable manner.

Here's a pretty brilliant way to get people to stop texting and driving.  Volkswagen played a new ad before the previews at a movie theater in Hong Kong recently.  The first 10 seconds were of a car driving down a road, from the driver's point of view.

Then they sent a text message to everyone in the theater at the exact same time.  And when people looked down to check their phone, the car CRASHED.  Then a message about texting and driving popped up on the screen.  It's probably staged, but still.

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 26, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Many Americans want stricter enforcement of texting-while-driving laws and stiffer penalties for violators, according to a new survey.

The National Safety Council poll found that 73 percent of respondents wanted more enforcement of texting and driving laws, compared with 22 percent who found current enforcement levels satisfactory.

When asked about punishments for violators, 52 percent of respondents favored a point system that could lead to the loss of a driver's license or higher car insurance costs. About half supported large fines, and half said there should be different levels of penalties for first and repeat offenders.

"For years, there has been widespread opposition to texting behind the wheel," safety council president and CEO Deborah Hersman said in a council news release. "Today, the polls show the public is behind stronger penalties because most people recognize that it will take more than awareness campaigns to stop this dangerous behavior."

The poll findings were released as part of National Safety Month in June.

No state bans all cellphone use while driving. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia ban the use of handheld cellphones by drivers, and 44 states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving.

Talking on a cellphone -- either handheld or hands-free -- is believed to be a factor in 21 percent of crashes. An additional 5 percent of crashes are related to texting, according to the council.

The council offered the following tips to prevent distracted driving:

    Make a personal pledge to not use a cellphone while driving. Turn your cellphone off or put it on silent while driving so that you're not tempted to answer it.
    If you're in a car with a driver who's on a cellphone, ask if you can take the call instead or if the call can wait.
    On your cellphone's voicemail message, tell callers you're either away from the phone or driving, and you'll call them back when you can do so safely.
    If you're talking to someone who is driving, tell the person to hang up and call you later.