Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (0)

Gadget dependence
October 25, 2006

The biggest problem with gadgets is that we become dependent on them. When they fail. We're literally lost. Two cases in point, both about GPS systems.

Last year, I went to Austin for several company visits. Before leaving, I went to my local AAA office for a city map. I also printed maps of each location I needed to visit. I didn't do the driving, though. The person who did brought along a GPS system, which he couldn't get to work. We're driving along I-35 and he's on his cell phone with a GPS customer support person who's describing how to reboot the system. So, he's talking and pushing buttons while driving. Not very safe, in my opinion. After 20 minutes, I told him to give up on the GPS and just go where I tell him to go. We made it to all appointments on time. So much for GPS.

Even when a GPS system "works," it may not work well. Friends from New York visited over the weekend. My friends spent the afternoon in Salem, MA (a good place to go right before Halloween), which is 15 miles northeast of Boston. We arranged to meet in downtown Boston for dinner. Relying on their GPS for directions, my friends drove 50 miles out of their way. Oh, they arrived at the agreed resturant, but their trip took four times as long as it should have. I'll stick to a map, thank you very much.

Posted by Martin Rowe on October 25, 2006 | Comments (0)