50% of parents knowingly text their teens while teens are driving

We like to blame the kids, don't we?

It makes us feel better and makes them feel worse.

This is what we call a win-win.

However, when it comes to texting and driving, how much are the kids really to blame?

I've just been given a new survey that examined, among other things, parents' attitudes toward their kids and the likelihood they will text their kids knowing they're behind the wheel.

There's one statistic that might cause you pause: 50 percent of the 1,000 parents surveyed said that they text their teen kids, even though they know that the teen is driving.

You might want to sympathize these parents, perhaps. They only want to leave a message, not to disturb their kids. Surely.

Well, 29 percent of these parents admitted that they expect their kids to reply before they reach their destination.

I pause for your exclamation.

The study was conducted in April on behalf of Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions.

Oddly, Parents Against Destructive Decisions don't seem to have been involved.

If this study reflects true behavior, what does it show about parents' motivations? That their need for control outweighs all other concerns? Or that texting and driving has become so common it has made rationality redundant?

I suspect we believe we're all wonderful multitaskers, especially when it comes to technology. We watch TV while we're on Twitter. We scroll Tinder while we're at dinner with our spouses.

So we tell ourselves that using a phone while driving requires the same sort of skill. Except, of course, for the fact that someone could get killed.

But it seems that many parents are actively encouraging their teens to endanger themselves, without thinking about it (the parents, that is).

Technology makes everything seem so urgent. We allow notifications to be thrust at us non-stop. We check our phone hundreds of times a day. We can't resist tweeting without thinking.

So even parents seem to reach for their phones with a jerk of the knee and expect an instant reply with a jerk of the finger. Yet a mere 29 percent admitted to texting and driving themselves.

Such, it seems, is parental sanctimony.

Many parents confessed to not only texting their kids while they're driving, but also demanding a reply, then admitted to texting and driving themselves.

I'd like to end on a hopeful note. I'd like to.

How about 87 percent of parents said that they enforce "strict driving rules"?

Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/50-percent-of-parents-admit-to-knowingly-texting-their-teens-while-theyre-driving/