When smartphones first made their debut, injuries related to distracted walking, running, driving and more began to rise. People, distracted by whatever website they were looking at or text message they were returning, suffered many falls down stairs and into fountains, walking into telephone poles and traffic. The online videos of said incidents can be rather amusing to watch, but the one thing to remember is that these people suffered real injuries because they were distracted.

The ante was upped with the advent of “selfies” — self-portraits taken with smartphones. As selfies have gained in popularity, so have the accidents and even deaths that happen when the self-portraitist is distracted with framing the shot. People have fallen off bridges, cliffs and down the stairs of the Taj Mahal. The National Park Service has become concerned about the number of people taking selfies with wild animals in the background without a thought that the animal being framed in the shot behind their back is, indeed, a wild animal and thus unpredictable.

In the selfie-taking moment, people lose track of where they are and what they are doing. Their lack of situational awareness contributes to these avoidable and tragic accidents.

But the lack of situational awareness contributes to many other incidents that could be avoided, mainly crime. Situational awareness is the ability of any person to observe their surroundings and make decisions based on the interpretation of things. Does it make sense to walk on the side of the street with no streetlight at night? No. Should a person take a moment to check out what’s going on inside a convenience store before walking in? Yes. Does it make sense to go running or walking with music blaring through headphones or earbuds so that any warning sounds go unheard? No. Should a person take a moment to simply look around and see if there’s anything unusual happening? Yes.

The more technologically dependent society becomes, the more distracted and less likely people are to rely on their No.1 warning system: themselves.

So make an effort to pay attention, whether taking a selfie on a mountaintop or walking down the street.

Smartphones are smart, but they’re not that smart.