The Age of the App: The Good, The Bad, and The Accountability

Imagine this: You’re on a road trip with friends, everyone is talking, laughing and having a good time. You’re documenting your adventures through social media and checking in to every known location imaginable for discounts and points to their favorite shops. One minute you are cruising down the highway taking selfies and answering snaps…the next, well no one really knows what happened next…except your car is found hours later, having collided with oncoming traffic and there are no survivors.

Crazy isn’t it? Unfortunately it’s not nearly as crazy as one would think. As technology has grown, marketers and even consumers themselves have often joked that eventually there will be an app for everything, providing more information, entertainment and incentives right to the consumer’s fingertips and keeping them plugged in wherever they go. The truth is, nowadays that’s not as much a joke as a statement of fact.

But what happens when things go too far? When that one post you just have to make causes a car accident?, When that update you saw on social media causes you to lash out in anger putting yours and the lives of others at risk? What happens then and who is responsible?

To date 27% of car crashes have been linked to smartphone use (Sidibe, 2015) and roughly 70 percent of people have admitted to using their smart phone for apps like snapchat, twitter, online shopping etc. while driving (Ziv, 2015).

While this would normally suggest human error, lately it seems that more and more consumers are looking toward the creators, marketers, and companies that utilize these apps, asking the question “What are you going to do about this?” and calling for company and marketing accountability.

Recently Snapchat came under fire for its potential role in the death of three young women, who were speeding down the road and collided into a tractor trailer before their car burst into flames. It was speculated that they were snapping and using the speed filter, a new feature which indicates how fast a car is going.  While snapchat doesn’t condone snapping and driving, they have largely remained silent on the issue and the victims’ families want answers. “I think it’s really horrible. I think that’s horrible that there is something out there to tell them ‘Hey go faster,’…If that happened, it helped to kill my daughter,” (Saltzman 2016).

As marketing communications specialists I believe that we do have a responsibility to an extent but this is also a double edged sword. As we grow with technology and become more aware of its dangers, we have to weigh the pros and cons daily of how our products and our messages will do in the hands of the consumer. While I believe that this growing danger calls for companies and practitioners to be more  proactive we also have to remember that we cannot control everything individuals do.

While many companies have attempted to advocate against distracted driving, this effort has seemed to have little to no effect begging the question Is this convenience really convenient after all? Where does the responsibility of sound human judgement end and company responsibility begin? and where, as marketing communications specialists, do we fit in?

References

http://about.att.com/story/smartphone_use_while_driving_grows_beyond_texting.html

Bloom, T. (28 April 2014). Women Killed in Car Crash Moments After ‘Happy’ Facebook Post. KTLA 5 News. http://ktla.com/2014/04/28/woman-killed-in-car-crash-moments-after-happy-facebook-post/

Death Crash Teen in 142mph Snapchat Boast. Sky News. http://news.sky.com/story/1492342/death-crash-teen-in-142mph-snapchat-boast

Saltzman, W. (12 Feburary 2016). Did Snap Chat Play a Role in the Deaths of 3 Young Women? ABC Eyewitness News. http://abc13.com/technology/did-snapchat-play-role-in-deaths-of-3-young-women/1198016/

Sidibe, N. (25 May 2015). More phones, more wrecks? Distracted driving on the rise. CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/21/cell-phone-boom-leading-to-rise-in-distracted-driving-safety-group.html

Welkie, J. (16 June 2015). It started out as a Snapchat Story…But it Had a Violent Ending. Viral Nova. http://www.viralnova.com/violent-snapchat/

Zeman, E. (http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-devices/smartphones-tied-to-25–of-us-car-crashes/d/d-id/1098800?

Ziv, S. (17 August 2015). U.S. Traffic Deaths, Injuries and related costs up in 2015. Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/us-traffic-deaths-injuries-and-related-costs-2015-363602