No one would argue that texting and driving is safe, so why do we all do it? According to Jim Ramirez, CEO of TextNinja, it’s because we are programmed to text and drive. He remarked that “it’s a new bell that when rung forces us to salivate, just like Pavlov's dog”.
We have entered a world where the machine’s in our pockets are incredibly smart but at the same time profoundly dumb. They know all about our friends’ birthdays from Facebook and what is trending on Twitter, but they don’t know that we are driving. They don’t know that vibrating or ringing can cause serious damage to their master (as well as themselves).
“The fact that we have not found a real answer to this problem is distressing” Jim recounts. And he is right, there is no real good solution to the texting and driving epidemic. The current best solution is the same as the now infamous Nancy Regan’s solution to drug use, ‘Just Say No (to texting and driving)’. But if the war on drugs has taught us anything it’s that prohibition doesn’t work. So that is why Jim created TextNinja.
TextNinja is a combination of software and hardware that can tell when you’re driving. When it senses that you’re driving, it silences your notifications and your ability to text. The software then tracks how long you have been driving without texting and records that as points. These points can then be redeemed for rewards/discounts to popular retailers. In essence you get rewarded for refusing to salivate at your dog food, reversing Pavlov’s conditioning.
You can listen to the full conversation with Jim at www.thefoundersreport.com
Or listen to the podcast at https://goo.gl/758Iie
Download TextNinja off their website https://textninja.com/
