New Delhi: A retail outlet in northwest China has constructed a special pathway for pedestrians to walk on while gazing at their mobile phones, according to a report by the Beijing Youth Daily.
The lane has been set up in a commercial district in Xian in Shaanxi province, which is home to numerous start-up companies as well. The pathway, which is about one-metre wide and extends for hundreds of metre, carries several signboards with the message “only for smartphone addicts”.
Other parts of the pavement have a ban on people using mobile phones. These lanes are meant to discourage young workers from IT companies in the area who walk while being glued to their mobiles, the Beijing Youth Daily report said.
Security guards also direct drivers to go round the special lane for “smartphone addicts”.
Local residents felt a sense of safety while using the special lane designed for people addicted to smartphones. However, the initiative has also sparked an online debate in China, with some saying that it encourages people to keep looking at their phones while walking.
“I don’t support it. A special lane for a behaviour that we shouldn’t promote sounds like doing just the opposite,” one person wrote on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
Another said, “These smartphone addicts should just walk in a lane for the blind. After all, they can’t see their surroundings like blind people.”
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