Utah University Adds Texting and Walking Lane to Its Stairs

Bits.blogs.nytimes.com

Phone carriers and local emergency rooms rejoice. Students at Utah Valley University have a new perk: a texting and walking lane.

A stairway in the campus life and wellness center in Orem, Utah, has been divided into three lanes: walking, running and texting. It’s like the high-occupancy lane on the highway, but it’s you and your device so connected that you can’t take a second to part ways between classes.

Yes, it has come to this, well, sort of. It actually started as a bit of a laughing matter, according to a university report. The report quoted the university’s creative director, Matt Bambrough, as saying that the original intention of creating the new design was to let students know “we are aware of who they are and where they’re coming from. The design was meant for people to laugh at rather than a real attempt to direct traffic flow.”

But he also said: “When you have 18-to 24-year-olds walking on campus glued to their smartphones, you’re almost bound to run into someone somewhere.”

As the saying goes, there’s a grain of truth in every joke, and, buoyed by its resonance, the texting-lane concept went immediately viral...