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Temporary Technological Relief

Posted by Melissa Braswell on 03/09/2010

I was born without a sense of direction.  I can’t find my way around the block and can still get lost even if I’ve been to a place a hundred times.  I recently read that it could be due to genetics and something called Williams Syndrome.  I don’t know whether or not I have this disorder, and I probably won’t call my doctor and ask, but my remedy for this “ailment” is my GPS.

I think my parents got sick of me calling them all the time, trying to figure out how to get somewhere or how to get home, so they bought me a GPS for Christmas one year.  I was relieved that I had something to rely on instead of calling my Dad to ask him how to get home from Nashville-twenty minutes from where I used to live. I thought that my GPS would cure me of my symptoms; you know, the embarrassment and panic.  And for the most part, it did.  I have to say however, that it’s a temporary technological relief.  It gets you where you ask it to go-most of the time.

We’ve all heard the horror stories on the news about people driving off cliffs or turning down treacherous roads because the GPS (or Regina as I like to call her) told them too. And although Regina has never told me to drive off the side of a mountain, she has told me to turn down roads that don’t exist.  I think sometimes she just gets stressed out trying to remember every single road in the U.S.  Or maybe, she gets tired of me yelling at her every time she says “caution” and tells me to slow down.  When she takes that, “I’m getting ticked” attitude with me, I simply flip her off.

Many people think we place too much trust in not just this but in all technology. I think we need to use common sense and realize that technology is not always perfect.  It’s meant to make life easier or more enjoyable, but it can fail just like human beings.

I do still trust my GPS to at least get me in the general area of where I want to go.  But if I can’t find my destination after the route is recalculated 15 times, then I usually call my Dad or stop and ask someone.  That’s as long as Regina hasn’t taken me to a weird part of town.