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Utah Valley University Marketing & Communications

Utah’s largest public university is attempting to teach students to watch where they’re going by designating a special lane for people who text while walking up stairs.

Since June 7, a staircase at Utah Valley University’s new student center building in Orem has boasted a “texting lane,” though the school’s creative director Matt Bambrough acknowledges it is meant to be an art project, as opposed to an official school policy. In a statement, he even admits, “Most people don’t obey the posted lanes.”

Past parodies of distracted pedestrians have included a street lane in Chongqing, China, for texting tourists and Improv Everywhere’s stunt in which pranksters dressed up as “Seeing Eye People” who guided New Yorkers glued to their phones.

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.

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