Hasta La Gadget!

At this point we’ve all heard plenty about the dangers of texting while driving, but what about texting on the job? That, I suppose, ultimately comes down to what exactly it is that do for a living. Food service employees, for instance, are likely putting less lives at risk if they text on the clock than, say, lifeguards–you know, the people whose jobs it is to make sure that you don’t drown or get eaten by a shark, et al.

This past summer, the incidents of lifeguards texting on the job has risen to a level high enough to present a major concern. American Lifeguard Association director of health and safety, Bernard J. Fisher II told The New York Times, “This issue has really come out for us this year.”

But here’s the real money quote, “Lives are being endangered, if not already lost, because of text messaging.” The organization received dozens of complaints of lifeguards texting on the job over the course of the summer. It received no such complaints back in 2008.

Fisher blames the frequency of complaints, in part, on a drop in wages–a number of organizations are no paying lifeguards minimum wage and forcing them to pay for their own training. “Because of the lack of pay, you can’t pick and choose the caliber of guard you need,” he told the paper.