Had a talk with my uncle who drove truck for 35 years and he said something that stuck with me

He told me that back in the 80s he could read a paper map in 10 seconds flat but now he watches his GPS reroute him three times before he trusts it, and I realized I can't even fold a map back right anymore after I tried to look up an old route in Portland last month.

3 comments

3 Comments

samrodriguez3d ago

Map reading is a dying skill for sure, but I actually think GPS has saved me way more headaches than maps ever did. I used to miss exits all the time because I couldn't figure out the map while driving, now I just listen to the lady talk and I'm fine. Paper maps also get outdated fast, like that Portland route you mentioned could be completely different now because of construction or new roads. GPS rerouting is annoying but at least it adapts to real traffic jams, a map won't tell you about a wreck blocking three lanes.

logan_wood3d ago

Notice how this is part of a bigger pattern where we're trading actual SKILLS for convenience across the board. Like my dad used to balance his checkbook by hand every week but now I just glance at my banking app and assume it's right. People don't memorize phone numbers anymore because contacts do it for them. My friend can't change a tire but can order a tow truck in two clicks. We're ALL outsourcing our brains to devices and it works fine until the battery dies or the signal drops. Then we're completely lost because we never built the foundation skills.

fiona_kim973d ago

Right, because the zombie apocalypse is definitely gonna start with a dead iPhone battery and me trying to read a paper map by candlelight while a horde is shuffling towards me. Guess we'll all just have to hope Siri has a better survival plan than we do. My dad's checkbook balancing skill isn't gonna save him when the WiFi goes down and he can't log into his online banking either. Honestly, at this point we're all just one giant power outage away from becoming completely helpless.