It may help you keep in touch. But texting while walking could make you lose your balance.
People who type text messages while walking develop a robot-like posture that puts them in danger of toppling over, a study found
The scientists warned that text-walkers are also at risk of wandering in front of traffic and stumbling onto train tracks – and urged pedestrians to stop before type.
The Australian researchers tracked the body movements of 26 young men and women as they tried to walk in a straight line.
They walked the 30ft course three times – once without a mobile phone, once while reading a text message and once while typing a message.
Their gait clearly changed when using their phone – with sending a text having a bigger impact than simply reading one.
Texting caused people to slow down, swerve off course and move their head from side to side.
They also developed a distinctive posture as they strained to keep their eyes on the screen.
University of Queensland researcher Siobhan Schabrun said: ‘We found that people walked with a posture that was robot-like.
‘To keep their eyes steady on the phone, they ‘locked’ their arms, trunk and head together, all in aid of keeping their phone in their field of vision, so there was less movement between each of their body segments.
‘We know from previous research that moving your body less puts you at greater risk of falling.’
Writing in the journal PLoS ONE , she added that the intense concentration put into writing a text and the side to side movement of the head may also affect balance.
Dr Schabrun said that people need to be educated on the dangers of text-walking.
She said: ‘In recent years, there have been many reports of people involved in traffic accidents, stumbling onto train tracks, into fountains and off piers because they were texting while walking.
