A couple of hours into my long drive yesterday, I found that the car was equipped with satellite radio, and found that the Sirius XM jazz station was an enjoyable accompaniment as the miles rolled on.
I often prefer listening to instrumental music. Unless I really want to be paying attention to the lyrics of a song, I prefer to not have them coming into my head. Words have a way of drawing my attention and directing my thoughts down paths that I don't want to be on. I have listened to, and played jazz for many years. The program yesterday presented me with a nice mixture of familiar performances, some of them masterpieces in the genre, and artists who were new to me.
The music helps carry me through the trip, dividing the long hours into segments of a few minutes each, presenting a variety of sounds, rhythms, beauty and emotion to contrast with the sameness of the car moving down the road in a narrow lane.
In that context, it doesn't seem like a distraction, but I know that it is. I know this because when I approach an uncertain situation that I want my full attention for, I become aware of the distraction and turn off the music. Yesterday, this occurred when I turned into the airport entrance and needed to focus on where to take the car. Let's just say the signs and directions could have been more clear.
My mind is dealing with a myriad of sensory inputs, and is generally able to deal with the division of attention. The challenge of distracted driving is that most of the time, the distraction doesn't matter. But when it does matter, and something happens so quickly that, unlike returning a rental car, I don't have time to turn off the distraction, very bad things can happen.
My awareness of how even music on the radio can, at times, demand too much of my attention, certainly motivates me to avoid larger driving distractions like talking on a cell phone, texting, or reading. It also informs my thoughts about what it means to be fully present in my life.
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