Her last moments were happy so how come we’re sad she died like that? That is, texting about happiness. WHILE DRIVING.

It’s like this:

Remember how before you had teenagers you felt all smug and thought your kids would never behave “like that?” You were sure that because you are such a good parent, your kids would never talk sass to you, or do stupid things like TEXT WHILE DRIVING. But guess what? They turned into teenagers anyway.

Because that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

But I digress. Back to the story of the woman who died last Thursday in a car crash. That’s right. A car crash.

At the time of the crash, she was texting these words as her Facebook status update:

The Happy Song makes me so HAPPY.

Aside from the pitiable irony of the message contained within that text, I bet you’re skeptical. You’re thinking, “Well, how on earth do they know that she was doing that right at the moment she crashed.”

 

So I’ll tell you how. Time stamps. Because yes Virginia, technology comes with time stamps.

Courtney Ann Sanford’s status update was posted at 8:33. The crash was called in to the police at 8:34.

Note that Courtney was no teenager. She was 32. Now consider that for a moment. If a 32 year-old woman texts while driving, how much more so is your teenager likely to text while driving?

The thing is, most of us engage in dangerous behaviors at times, believing we’re invincible. But teens are the worst offenders. Let me be frank: teens are totally sucked into the now of any given moment and can’t see past the ends of their own elbows.

It’s the nature of the, um, beast. Teens are guided by emotions and hormones. Period.

So what’s the upshot here, Sam, you may be wondering. Well, I’ll tell ya. It’s like this:

SHOW YOUR KIDS THIS VIDEOCLIP.

Because it’s about the only thing they’ll understand outside of themselves: media.

Remind them that at the moment, the Happy Song made Courtney very happy until (milliseconds later) it made her VERY DEAD.

Yes. It sounds cruel. But hey—how else are you going to get teens to sit up and listen to the truth?

And while you’re at it, you may want to print out this Kars4Kids infographic on the dangers of texting while driving and stick it on your fridge. That’s right, the fridge.

Because teens always get hungry eventually. Even when they hate your stupid guts.

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