A distracted driver can cause fatal accidents
Distracted is an adjective that is used to describe someone who is frequently distracted , with which they act or express themselves without paying attention and without becoming truly aware of their actions . To understand the concept, therefore, it is necessary to first focus on the idea of distraction .
With difficulty concentrating
A distraction is something that draws attention away from where it should be applied . In this way, when someone is distracted, they no longer focus their attention on where they should be, but rather divert it to a different side.
If distractions are habitual, the individual is classified as distracted . The person in question has difficulty concentrating and, therefore, often makes mistakes and incurs omissions and negligence that can have serious consequences.
A distracted man , for example, may be late for work because he fell asleep because he did not remember to set an alarm to wake up. You may also not know where you kept your house keys, burn the food you are preparing, and forget to pay the electricity bill.
Occasional Distracted
On occasion, a subject may be occasionally distracted . Let's assume that a young person is very responsible when driving: he has never had a traffic accident or received any fine for committing violations. However, one afternoon he is distracted by looking at an advertising billboard and ends up crashing into another vehicle. Thus, by driving distracted, you become responsible for the collision, even though you did not have a similar record and, until then, your road record has been faultless.
This situation, like many others, is an exception. That is to say, the subject is not characterized by being distracted, but rather an external stimulus for which he was not prepared causes a lack of attention. Of course, the reason matters little if the consequences are very serious ; For example, if the car collision caused fatal accidents, the victim's family would not forgive it simply because it was an isolated distraction.
The reasons why a person who generally pays close attention to everything they do can become distracted are several, although they all have in common that they attack in moments of weakness . Going back to the driver example, it's likely that the billboard that caught his attention has been there for a while, but on that particular day, for certain reasons, he couldn't resist looking at it.
The weakness we are talking about can be understood as sadness, extreme physical and mental fatigue, stress or even suffering from some disease that affects the body to the point of altering the normal performance of the individual. Fever, aches and nausea, for example, prevent us from acting normally, and can affect our attention to details. To avoid accidents, it is important to rest until you regain health.
Being late for an appointment is a common consequence of distraction
Habitual distracted
At the other extreme we have distraction as a personality trait. There are individuals who define themselves as distracted, because in normal situations they cannot avoid diverting their attention almost randomly or forgetting important things. In this case, we would say " he is very distracted" , while in the previous case we would describe it as "The driver was distracted" .
Note the difference between the verbs ser and estar . The first indicates a characteristic of the person, while the second is used to indicate a temporary state. People who are distracted cannot stop being distracted, although they can make an effort to pay more attention if they want to obtain good results in matters such as job interviews or exams. But they always have a tendency to confuse schedules or forget certain security measures that for others are essential.