At the risk of veering off my usual product safety path a little (you’ll see what I’m doing here in a minute), I’d like to talk about your cell phone—or your client’s phone, or your kid’s phone. When I first read that 100,000 people submitted entries to win $100,000 from Vitaminwater simply by staying off their smartphone for a year, I wondered if that’s something I could actually do. The Vitaminwater deal is this: I’d have to trade my phone for a Kyocera flip phone provided by Vitaminwater. Then, for the next year I would have to completely eliminate the use of any smartphones or tablets at all, even those belonging to other people. I would be able to use a laptop or PC (so you wouldn’t have to miss any PromoJournal articles) and smart devices like Google Home or Amazon Echo are approved as part of the commitment, as long as they’re not hooked up to a smartphone.
By now you’ve likely decided how you feel on this topic. For me, it’s pretty simple. The prospect of a year without using a smartphone quickly warrants either a “no,” a “heck no,” or “all of the above” response. After all, I’d only get $10,000 if I made just six months smartphone-free, a poor consolation prize for half a year of my life.
Do you feel a little uncomfortable if your smartphone isn’t within easy grasp? Do you have FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), and if you don’t learn about friends and family activities on your phone, did they even really happen?
We’re not alone in our obsession with our smartphones and warnings about using devices while driving are as old as the devices themselves. But now, in a report released last week from Rutgers University, there’s new evidence that you’re as much at risk when you’re texting and walking as when you’re in the driver’s seat. The research was led by a facial plastic surgeon whose patients include a woman who broke her nose when she dropped her phone on her face. Dr. Boris Paskhover of Rutgers Medical School and others analyzed 20 years of emergency room data and found an increase in cell phone injuries starting after 2006—coincidentally around the time when smartphones were first introduced.
Some injuries were caused by phones themselves, including people getting hit by a thrown phone. But many were caused by distracted use, including texting while walking, tripping, and then landing face down on the sidewalk. Using emergency room data gathered from 100 hospitals by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the group from Rutgers identified more than 2,500 patients who suffered head or neck injuries as a result of cell phone use between January 1998 and December 2017. The researchers estimated that at least 76,000 such injuries had occurred nationwide during the 20-year period, with more than 9,000 cases a year occurring in 2016 and 2017, the most recent years available.
The research noted that injuries were likely significantly under-reported, and the exact proportion of injuries suffered by those in and out of cars was unclear, as details provided to emergency room personnel were sometimes incomplete. For instance, someone involved in a car accident might not say they were using a cell phone while driving in order to minimize their liability, and others may omit details of smartphone use out of simple embarrassment. Lacerations and contusions were the most common complaints, though sprains, fractures, and concussions were also near the top of the list. For 94 percent of the injuries, the patient was treated in the emergency room, or released without any treatment. Nearly 40 percent of all injuries were suffered by patients ages 13 to 29, the most of any age group. So, do yourself a favor and overcome that FOMO. Put down that phone, and just walk away. It’ll be good for your health, your clients’, and your kids’.
Finally, we’ve made the case several times here on the risks of drinking bottled water, and especially the impact of single-use bottles. Still, the bottled water industry continues to grow, reaching $31 billion in sales in 2018. Forty percent of Americans believe bottled water is safer than tap, a recent Consumer Reports survey found, and about 1 in 6 don’t drink their home tap water. But now, a new revelation involving the Food and Drug Administration gives more reason for pause. A May 2018 report on Sweet Springs Valley Water Company, a bottled water manufacturer in West Virginia, found that several months earlier the company had bottled and distributed water from a source contaminated with the potentially deadly bacteria E. coli.
According to the FDA, when E. coli is detected in source water, companies must cease bottling until they can produce five E. coli-free samples over a 24-hour period. But according to the 47-page report obtained by Consumer Reports through a Freedom of Information Act request, Springs Valley had not only not stopped production, they had also not conducted any follow-up tests of the source water. In fairness, most bottled water on the market appears to be safe. But the Springs Valley case also isn’t an isolated one: The FDA has cited companies at least 14 times in the past ten years for failing to meet federal quality standards for bottled water. In most of those cases, the agency didn’t force a recall of products still on sale. For those products not recalled, bottlers don’t appear to have informed consumers about test results showing excessive contamination, something that public water supplies do for the same sort of violations. The long and short of it is the FDA knew about the contamination, and consumers weren’t told. Are you still drinking from and sourcing single-use plastics for your clients? Is the government not reporting known contaminants a good enough reason to consider changing your mind now?
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. You can find him volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem, traveling the world with his lovely wife, or enjoying a cigar at his favorite local cigar shop. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, or reach out to him at jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.