If cell phones weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now I can definitely see it not being an issue in the past. But with literally everything being online and on our phones I could easily see something going badly. Like, I don’t think you can even buy maps at gas stations or rest stops in the US these days and those things used to be everywhere. And without being able to use GPS, call someone, and in some peoples cases won’t even be able to buy anything since there are so many people that rely on things like Apple Pay, there are so many things that can go wrong with one point of failure. Most people wouldn’t even know what day of the month it is or even how much money they have without their phone.
One of the reasons I keep a map in my car, which I’ve actually had to use a couple times when my phone died on a long drive.
Oh yeah, I’m aware. I don’t really disagree in general, but that dependency on devices is problematic. Also, I think that dependency is almost entirely a fiction. The only vendors I’ve ever met that don’t take cash, weren’t selling anything I’d generally need in an emergency or miss if I couldn’t get it immediately, e.g. craft/art fair vendors and fly by night food trucks. And I mostly managed to navigate everywhere without a map, even though I kept one in the glove box. The U.S. (I assume we’re talking about the U.S. because carbrained) is fairly easy to navigate without either as long as you can find a highway and you can read road signs. Maps helped sometimes sure, but the lack of one never made me feel unsafe. Sure, things can go badly, but that’s due to a lack of ingenuity and knowledge (street smarts as we used to call it), not the lack of a phone. In fact, I’ve gotten just as lost while looking at a map and trying to follow a friend’s directions. Maps, physical or digital, are almost always wrong or outdated to some degree.
You’re only as dependent on your phone as you make yourself. That crutch is the real danger.
If cell phones weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now I can definitely see it not being an issue in the past. But with literally everything being online and on our phones I could easily see something going badly. Like, I don’t think you can even buy maps at gas stations or rest stops in the US these days and those things used to be everywhere. And without being able to use GPS, call someone, and in some peoples cases won’t even be able to buy anything since there are so many people that rely on things like Apple Pay, there are so many things that can go wrong with one point of failure. Most people wouldn’t even know what day of the month it is or even how much money they have without their phone.
One of the reasons I keep a map in my car, which I’ve actually had to use a couple times when my phone died on a long drive.
Oh yeah, I’m aware. I don’t really disagree in general, but that dependency on devices is problematic. Also, I think that dependency is almost entirely a fiction. The only vendors I’ve ever met that don’t take cash, weren’t selling anything I’d generally need in an emergency or miss if I couldn’t get it immediately, e.g. craft/art fair vendors and fly by night food trucks. And I mostly managed to navigate everywhere without a map, even though I kept one in the glove box. The U.S. (I assume we’re talking about the U.S. because carbrained) is fairly easy to navigate without either as long as you can find a highway and you can read road signs. Maps helped sometimes sure, but the lack of one never made me feel unsafe. Sure, things can go badly, but that’s due to a lack of ingenuity and knowledge (street smarts as we used to call it), not the lack of a phone. In fact, I’ve gotten just as lost while looking at a map and trying to follow a friend’s directions. Maps, physical or digital, are almost always wrong or outdated to some degree.
You’re only as dependent on your phone as you make yourself. That crutch is the real danger.