What’s your ringtone?  Maybe you have your phone set to silent but you have your notifications popping up so you can see them from the corner of your eye.

Distractions.  Many people today live connected to their device (and I am speaking about all ages) not only the youth.

Whether you are having a meal with a friend or sometimes even talking on your phone – you receive a notification of any kind and you are suddenly distracted from your friend, and now focusing on that “bubble alert.”

Is it a text, an email, a voicemail, an email? Have you been waiting all day for it — or is it spam?

Until you find out, you will — for a second that will drive into minutes, most likely suffer from anxiety of needing to know.

Florida State University released a study recently that said:

Just receiving a notification on your cell phone can cause enough of a distraction to impair your ability to focus on a given task. The distraction is comparable to the effects seen when actually using a cell phone to make calls or send text messages.

Now we are speaking about cell phone distractions generally.  In reality these distractions are there for a reason, we need to have our alerts to know when we have a call, email, text or otherwise.

However when you are engaged with another person or especially (and this is critical) when you are driving, distractions should be limited if at all.  (Ahem, another words – turn-it-off or to silent when you are driving).  The fact is it is very easy to be distracted by the bubbles and the flashing lights – never mind the beeps, ding dongs and trendy songs.

Digital distractions can be not only rude to people you are with, they can be potential dangerous.

Recently AT&T released their latest campaign for #ItCanWait.  Picture your life. Picture how quickly it can change.  

Take 3-minutes to watch this video and share it with ones you love. It’s not only about texting and driving.  It’s about your digital distractions.  Remember – #ItCanWait.