New Year, New Texting and Social Media Habits: Always Remember, It Can Wait!

Special thanks to AT&T for sponsoring this post and giving us a chance to speak about the “It Can Wait” campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recently we started a journey to better texting habits that we introduced in “Texting And Social Media are fun! But Trust Me It Can Wait…“. I took the “It Can Wait” pledge and did the 21 day challenge starting from December 14th.  They say it takes 21 days to build a habit, I’m happy to report that just being a part of this challenge really changed my mindset on how much urgency we place on texting immediately or updating social media immediately.  The truth is, it really can wait. None of our lives are worth the risk of sending a text while we drive. Not only do we put our own lives in danger, you put the lives of other people on the road in danger.

I love the New Year because people are so inspired to create great habits to carry on through the year. If you didn’t get a chance to start the 21 day challenge before, it’s not too late to start now. 6 years ago AT&T launched the It Can Wait campaign and they have been making a huge impact ever since. Since then, they have helped grow awareness of the dangers of smartphone distracted driving to more than 90% of audiences surveyed. By doing this challenge I learned that we’ve created a somewhat unhealthy attachment to our phones and become an impatient society. When we have an “It Can Wait” mentality, we’re able to enjoy being in the moment more and not be as scatter brained. There are already enough distractions when we’re on the road, smartphones don’t have to be another one. In this day and age we have more options for handsfree driving and safer driving in general. One option that comes to mind is The AT&T DriveMode app.

The AT&T DriveMode is a free, safe driving app that helps prevent distractions while driving by silencing incoming alerts. The app activates when speed reaches 15 MPH and deactivates when speed drops below 15 MPH for 2-3 minutes.  It’s also great for getting Parental Alerts that send an SMS to the parent if the app is turned off or if auto-mode is disabled. And I love the Auto-reply responses to SMS and MMS messages with a personalized safe driving message. The app has a ton of great features for you to check out and is available for  Apple and Google Play.

There’s so much power in taking the pledge. Studies have shown that 4/10 people asked a friend or family member to not use their smartphone while driving after taking the pledge.Nearly 1/3 asked a driver to not use their smartphone while driving when riding as a passenger. And last but not least, nearly 4/10 asked a passenger to operate their smartphone while they are driving. (source)

So what are you waiting for? It’s a New Year and a great time to make New Texting and Social Media Habits!

Take the pledge today and Always Remember, It Can Wait!

This is a sponsored blog post and I was compensated by AT&T. All thoughts and opinions are my own.