Originally Posted by
mschwett
i wonder how many lives have been saved or greatly benefited by the vast majority of the time that these directions are accurate, people don't get lost, young women don't find themselves in some random dead end alley in a bad neighborhood, traffic and pollution is reduced by people taking the less congested route? does anyone seriously think that having virtually every map in the world on a screen in your pocket or car is NOT progress?
Amen. ..and how many businesses/restaurants succeed because people can find them..and get back to where they are staying for the night?...and how tourism supports people and cities/countries because tourists don't blink an eye when exploring areas as they know how to travel without getting lost. We recently visited Montreal and Quebec City (from the USA/Wisconsin) for 10 days. While driving to the cities from the USA is a no brainer with a paper map only(I'm old enough that lots of travel happened pre-internet..btdt), navigating the cities with a paper map only (and tons of one way streets), given the extent we covered each city by bicycle and car, would have been a pita and taken much of the fun out of exploring areas.
The sky isn't falling. Paying attention while driving is part of driving.