Common Sense Gone Awry

            “You know, it's like, the GPS told me to go this direction" (NPR.com). These are probably the most common words spoken when one gets lost, not “I’m a dumbass for listening to a machine tell me to drive into a ditch, into a pond, or onto a path designated for pedestrians.”  Navigation systems, and technology in general, are supposed to make traveling easier.  They allow the driver to keep her eyes on the road and not on a large cumbersome map, they assist with impromptu destinations saying so long to the days of, “We can’t go; I don’t know where it is,” they know where the closest McDonalds is located so you can feed your travelling companion the vanilla ice cream cone he so desperately desires, and they offer peace of mind because they have the directions to get you home.  Those are the functions they should deliver each and every time, but alas they, like humans, have faults.

            Instead navigational devices often deliver aggravation and misdirection, which lead the driver to yell obscenities and look like an escaped mental patient to other drivers sharing that particular road.  At this time, envy creeps in because those other drivers – they know where they are going.  Luckily, when I travel I bring maps of the states I’m driving through or stop at a visitation center to pick one up because I did have a mishap with my former beloved Tom Tom.  I was driving through North Carolina and the damn device with a commanding voice told me to turn right.  I was on I-74.  Where the hell did it want me to go, drive through the cement barricade?  It may have been the shortest route to reach my destination, but I don’t think the local government would have been too happy with.  I, of course, ignored it and reached for my map and continued on my way.  That incident was no big deal.  The NPR article, “The GPS: A Fatally Misleading Travel Companion” explores the more serious consequences of blindly listening to a navigation system. 

Lesson: Do not rely heavily on navigational devices, bring maps, ask a human being for directions, and, by the way, while traveling through Death Valley stay on the designated roads.