Reliance on technology.

[greenishfing]

As an oldie I have never thought of myself as reliant on modern technology. I only got my first smartphone at Christmas this year (but would not part with it without a fight). A few years ago we borrowed a satnav when I was going to the lake district (not wanting to end up down a narrow dead end road with a yacht on a trailer on the back. When we got home I immediately bought our own as it actually told me to turn BEFORE a junction as opposed to my husband telling me after I had gone past. When this satnav died we bought a replacement. Today it died and I had to find somewhere out in a town in North Yorkshire that I had never visited before. Now I not only realise how dependant I have become on it but also how good I am at picking the local village idiots to ask for directions. Eventually how did I find my destination? I pulled over, got out my 'phone and Google maps supplied the answer.
Yes, I am well and truly dependent on modern technology......In the pre-technology days I used to find my way all over the UK and Europe. How did I do it? Is everyone else as bad as me??

[JanieB]

I love maps. They fascinate me. I also love technology. The problem with satnavs and google maps is that they are useless down country lanes and town and village back lanes where their cameras haven’t been. For instance I can’t look at the house my son is renting as it’s down a farm track. I can only see it from above.

I became hooked on computers in 1983 when expecting my youngest. I had to give up my business which involved a lot of standing up when he tried to bail out early and I spent some time in hospital trying to hang on to him. I was sent home with the instructions that I had to rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was bored, bored, bored, so I went temping and was the administrator for a team of boffins who introduced me to computers. I eventually took a degree in IT and Business Studies.

I still keep a road map in my car. You can’t beat them when there’s a major hold up and taking a detour is quicker than waiting in a queue. Satnavs don’t see road accidents and will insist on bringing you back to the traffic jam.

[bikermike]

map reading is like any skill - use it or lose it.

My dislike of satnavs is that you can't do "bigger picture" on them.

It's all "in 100 yards, turn left", so all you do is react. What I prefer is "you are looking for the B1040 to Biggleswade, it should be just after this village".

When you go into small picture satnav world, you have to trust it completely, which is how people end up turning down railway tracks and so forth.

[Lady BlackThumb]

I'm that nerd who kind of likes to study a route before I drive it, sort of to get a gist of the general direction I'm heading in, and then on the day relying on satnav. Google maps is a life saver! That said: interesting factoid, you don't get Google streetview in Vienna (and probably lots of places in Austria) for privacy reasons! You can still use the maps, but you can't go into creepy stalker mode and digitally walk yourself around Vienna. :P As I found out when planning a holiday a few years ago.

The one time our reliance on technology failed was on holiday in Keswick, where for some reason all phone reception was nonexistent, and googlemaps doesn't really plot walking paths through the woods and dales... It's "hilariously" stressful to watch a bunch of cityfolk (us) attempting to follow a text only walking map. "Walk for 2 miles, then at the turnstile turn left, then at the next fork in the road go right"... coming up to what looks like a semi-footpath in the middle of the woods wondering is this "THAT FORK" mentioned in the map.

[burnie]

A lot of people go into the mountains round here relying on gps units and can't read a map, luckily for some of them who expect batteries to last for ever, the mountain rescue are prepared to turn out and save their lives. I love a map and compass, though when the weather comes in(and does frequently) gps can be a great back up.

[Martin H]

Satnavs don’t see road accidents and will insist on bringing you back to the traffic jam.

Like you, I love proper maps. I can sit and look at them for hours. But on this last point, if you navigate using Google Maps it knows where all the traffic jams are as they happen and will redirect you on the fly. It's astonishingly good. Last week it steered me away from a 90 minute traffic jam on the M25 due to a van on fire. It got me to the golf course in good time for my game

[Bluenowhere]

Most of the phone based sat navs have active traffic jam information. CoPilot is my app of choice as it downloads the map to the phone so no signal required to use it. It also gives the next instruction at the bottom of the screen in advance i.e A123 in x miles, GPS is separate from phone signal. Other people I know rate Waze but I’m sure there are others.

You can download maps from google maps when you have either mobile or WiFi signal for smaller areas, good for walking or holidays where you might not have signal when you get there. Last for 30 days before you need to re-download.

[greenishfing]

I love all the comments. In the "old days" I too was a good map reader but I eventually became "the designated driver" with my husband as the "navigator". If satnavs hadn't been invented it is quite possible that our heated arguments would have ended in divorce. So, all in all and for the sake of my sanity, I 'm very happy to take this technology on board.

[SarrissUK]

I love technology and I was born a geek before there were even any PCs. I love gaming too, and I have no idea what I would do without Google and my smartphone. I have apps for identifying plants, I use an electronic calendar to haphazardly recording my sowings, and I visit this forum if I get five minutes during the day.
I've never had a proper satnav, but always used my smartphone. I used to click my phone in place when driving long distances and say... 'OK Google... how long until I get home?'. Google would then calculate, knowing the traffic, how long it would take me to get home! All done by voice too - no need to touch the phone.

Having said that, I love paper maps too, and I usually pour over them when moving to a new area. I seem to do that less and less though, but maybe that's a sign I'm more settled these days?

[mothhawk]

I don't have a GP satnav - I'd never learn the way to anywhere if I did, since my sense of direction is notoriously bad in a family of people that seem able to pinpoint "home" blindfold after running a maze of turns.

So no satnav dependency for me - no "death by satnav".....

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...av-greg-milner

[Baldy]

Mrs Balders couldn't find her way out of a cupboard. Whether using a map or some sort of satnav.
I get a call when I'm working in the Midlands and she is lost somewhere beyond the back of beyond in North Devon - "how do I get to X, I'm in Y"?
"Are you driving in the general direction of X"?
"I don't ******** know that's why I've called you"
"Well, if you are heading in the direction of X then take a left at the next junction if however you are heading away from X then neither I nor google maps can help as we don't know where you are.
Ah, my boss needs me for something very important... good luck"

pffffff

[veggiechicken]

My car came with a Satnav already fitted. I've used it once in 2 years, to try it out on a route I knew well. It told me to take the next right, at a No right turn junction. Then, because I ignored the instruction, it kept telling me to double back. Its rubbish, give me a map any day.
As for mobile phones, best not to ask. I'm still on the same £10 credit I put on it a year ago.

[Mitzi]

I love using maps for route planning but I am useless at retaining the route in my mind. So I'll plot out how to get from A to B but when I'm driving and come to a junction in the middle of a village I can't remember whether I wanted to go left or right. So if I'm on my own in the car I use the satnav. If I have a preferred route in mind then I enter various intermediate points into the Satnav to force it to take me on my scenic route rather than the quickest route.

[Lumpy]

I both love and hate it.
I recently downloaded a film with a very military title (Zero Dark Thirty) but had no idea what that meant.
After a quick check I found out.
My biggest issue is it can take away people’s ability to think for themselves but at my age I really don’t care.

[Kirk]

I don't yet have a smart phone, keep thinking of one but nothing that I really want. Maybe one day.
No Satnav either. And it seems I can manage to get from A to B, and back to A again.

Did use a Satnav once. Friend lent me hers for a trip. Thought it was going to have a nervous breakdown at times. Found it irrelevant for getting to the town/city (Sheffield). More use was the ability of it to tell me where to turn in a place I was unfamiliar with. The big road signs were OK for getting to Sheffield, it was once I was in Sheffield I found it of some use.

Once at Sheffield I found they had a good set of Park and Ride's with trams. So I decided to park the car and hop on a tram.