Air Sickness

When I first heard about those two pilots who recently overshot the Minneapolis airport by over 100 miles, I was stunned. However, when they said the reason they weren't paying attention to flying was because they were looking at one of their personal laptops , I just nodded my head, knowingly. We've all seen people who get so absorbed in their computers or other electronic devices that they lose track of time and everything else. I've done it now and then. Of course, when I do it, I don't have 144 passengers sitting behind me.

For an hour and eighteen minutes, the pilots didn't respond to their radio. Air traffic controllers had no explanation for what was going on. Federal counterterrorism agencies were so alarmed by the plane's erratic actions that they put fighter jets on alert. The pilots claimed they were on the computer for the entire hour and eighteen minutes going over some new airline scheduling software. Come on. If these pilots are the kind of people who are on their laptops every chance they get and they were on it for an hour and eighteen minutes, do you really think they were just checking out some dull airline software the whole time?

During those seventy-eight minutes, if they got an email, don't you think they read it? Maybe they checked on how their stocks were doing. Perhaps they were playing "Tiger Woods' PGA Tour" or "Street Fighter IV." For all we know, they were looking at porn while the plane flew at 37,000 feet.

I'm sure they felt that they could be on the computer and still pay attention to flying the airplane. And why not? How hard can it be to fly an Airbus A-320?

We don't see something as serious as this every day, but we all know this mentality. It's the rationalization used by people who talk on their phones while they drive: "I can concentrate on the road while I talk." It's what people say when they're being electronically rude: "Don't worry, I can pay attention to what you're saying and send an e-mail at the same time." It's the same thought process used by all those people who text while they're making love. Well, I'm sure somebody does that.

The point is that, without realizing it, people get completely engrossed in their computers, Blackberrys, and iPhones. The New York Times recently reported a Western Washington University experiment that demonstrated this.

They surveyed some people walking around a campus square while a unicyclist in a clown suit pedaled around the same square. After stopping the walkers, the researchers asked, "Did you see anything unusual?" One third of the people who were listening to music while they walked and nearly 60% of the people who were walking with a friend mentioned the clown. But of those people who were walking while they talked on their cell phones, only 8% remembered the clown. 8%! How can they drive or pay attention at a meeting while they're on their phones if they can't spot a clown right in front of them? On a unicycle!

The researchers refer to this phenomenon as "inattentional blindness." Maybe that's what the pilots had. Maybe that's what your kid has as she talks on her cell phone and you're waving your arms in front of her. Maybe that's what that guy in the elevator has as he ignores everyone else and shouts into that ridiculous thing on his ear.

So I guess some people aren't as good at multitasking as they think they are. They should stick to doing one thing at a time – especially if they're flying a plane. There's just one thing about those pilots that I can't get out of my mind: I hope they weren't using that computer to play, "Flight Simulator."

Good Neighbor Policy

There is a "Neighboring Gap" going on in our country. As opposed to previous generations, many people don't know their neighbors. They'll almost brag that they don't know the people who live next door. I wonder if this is a "trickling down" of the philosophy over the past several years that our country didn't need other countries. Now most people are seeing that we do need other countries, and we are part of the world community. We are also part of our local communities and can't just ignore our neighbors.

Recently, neighbors saw a Halloween decoration of an imitation man on a porch in Marina del Rey, California. They walked past this decoration for five days before it was discovered that it wasn't a Halloween decoration, but was actually their neighbor who had died on his porch. I might not be the most observant person in the world, but I think after at least a couple of days of walking by, I'd be able to tell the difference between a Halloween display and my neighbor.

One of the neighbors said, "He looked fake. It looked like somebody had thrown a dummy over the back of a chair." So this guy who lived nearby was so unfamiliar with his neighbor that he thought he looked like a dummy? He couldn't tell the difference between him and a bunch of rags stuffed into some clothes? I think that the reason he didn't look real to this neighbor and the reason other neighbors ignored what they saw is that they didn't slow down to look. It's a case of "social isolationism," or "I don't know my neighbors, it's none of my business, and I don't want to get involved."

I don't claim to be a perfect citizen or expect anyone else to be perfect, but you've got to admit this incident is pretty shocking. What would have to happen on that block for neighbors to pay attention? In the summer, would they think, "Oh, that's just a Fourth of July display" if they walked past an exploding car? Would they say to themselves, "I don't want to get involved" if they saw the guy down the block loading a missile launcher with a SCUD? Would they stop if they saw their neighbor giving a shower to his new pet elephant?

We've all heard other stories of neighbors not getting involved. People step over bodies on the sidewalk, ignore screams, and drive past accidents. Are they really so busy that they can't stop? What's the difference if they get to Starbucks a few minutes later? They'll still be able to get their Grande Mocha Soy Latte or whatever. Maybe they think they don't have the time to go to the police station. They've got the time. They can always TiVo "America's Biggest Loser." It has nothing to do with how busy they are. They just don't want to get involved.

There are plenty of reasons to get to know your neighbors. They can water your plants and take in the newspaper when you're out of town. They can use the key you gave them to let your kid in your house when he's lost his. They can recommend a plumber that they've used when your bathroom is flooded with 2 feet of water. They can give you all kinds of juicy gossip, which you can choose to listen to or ignore. If they're older, young neighbors can look in on them. If you're young, older neighbors can babysit for your kids. Neighbors can watch each other's houses and call the police if they see something suspicious. You can discuss local schools with them or why that car has been parked around the corner since 1992.

But the biggest reason to get to know your neighbors is because they are your neighbors. We live in a community just as the United States exists in a community of nations. So the next time you see her, smile at that woman who lives down the block. Bring over some cookies to the people next door. Pretend that you like that garage door that the people across the street just painted orange. It really doesn't take that much of an effort to be a good neighbor. Besides, would you really like to be mistaken for a dummy?