Are GPS's making people dumber? Do paper maps promote thinking, and a sense of direction?

Are street navigation GPS's making people dumber? Do you think that people who solely rely on GPS units lose their sense of direction and lose their situational awareness with their surroundings?





On a map, everything is laid out in front of you and you can see nearby parks etc. With a GPS I feel you are limited in seeing the whole picture from a decent perspective unless you trawl through the various menus.





I only ask this as I've been talking to a few people who solely rely on GPS's to get them from their home to the shops; and when asked if they could remember the route without the GPS they adamantly said no.





Its sad, as I feel that people do not think as much as what they used to and instead become a robot and follow instructions blindly/no questions asked from a piece of electronic equipment.|||In a lot of cases, yes. Because people have the GPS devices to tell them the directions, they are not learning their way to various places that are in their neighborhoods or cities. Most people have no concept of direction any more either. I'd bet if you asked 20 people which way was north; 80% of them would have no clue.





And I don't think GPS is all it's cracked up to be. But then you need to keep them updated and a lot of people don't do that either. I think they're good for a trip to a strange city or area but one really should learn the local geography and land marks and not rely on GPS.





Paper maps have their issues too but they at least forced you to think. Paper maps are usually outdated by the time they are printed and don't show a lot of information that a GPS unit will give you.





I think what worries me the most is that many, many people have no thinking skills anymore but rely on computers, GPS units and the internet for so much. What would happen if all that went away because of a disaster of some type? We would have millions of people just wandering around or waiting for someone to come save them. That's a really scary thought.|||My daughter did GPS the other night when I was making turns and twists in DC. It didn't work the one time because we weren't paying attention. It causes you to listen to the person talking and watching the map. It is great in the long run because it cuts down the confusion, but it makes you rely on the GPS totally instead of yourself. Takes the fun out of getting lost.|||correct. that is why I never take my leash anywhere (read: my cell phone). And I don't have it set up for text. There's no camera on it. Without the smallest exception, all the people I know who have those features are morons.|||Somewhat, yes. Technology has gotten to the point that people don't want to have to think for themselves. As a result, some people are getting dumber and dumber.





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