GPS: Global Positioning…Wait, Where am I?

The GPS may seem like one of the greatest inventions in automobile accessories in a long time, but are they truly accurate? And are they a help or a hindrance? Driving in an unfamiliar town can be scary but let’s be serious, so can an unidentifiable voice yelling directions at you.

When I first started driving I asked my Dad for a GPS. I thought it would be a good idea so I would never get lost. He responded with, “How will you ever really learn how to get somewhere?” How true Michael Katz was. The majority of my friends can’t go out of their hometowns without their GPS fully charged and ready to go. When you have a GPS you don’t actually have to read the road signs around you. You just listen to the little British man inside a small cube on your dashboard. Well, good luck the next time you don’t have your little instructor in a box with you.

In high school I was a member of the speech team. One extremely early morning, a hopped-up-on-coffee young me set out to her nerdy weekend competition which happened to be about an hour’s drive away in an unfamiliar town and so I borrowed my brother’s GPS. Well, I don’t have the best sense of direction but instead of taking me to I-95 the lovely Cindy, as I had named her, decided to take me south to Boston. I don’t know if any of you readers are Bostonians but this little trickster of a GPS took me to Dorchester, a not so safe town in Boston. I called my parents in a fit of terror and they had to direct me back to the highway.

A GPS not only completely nixes any possibility of gaining good directional skills but they are also not always accurate. A GPS runs off signals from satellites in order to direct you to your destination. Well, if that particular satellite is unaware of the street you wish to get to, you better have alternate plans because a GPS can’t take you to a place it doesn’t know. Last week my Dad drove down to New Jersey for a visit. I wanted to take him to the famous Broadway Diner in Summit, which is located on River Road. Well, according to the GPS there is no such thing as River Road. We tried entering the address in all sorts of creative ways but the GPS just wasn’t having it. We finally stopped at a gas station to get accurate directions. Bottom line, the GPS let us down and if we hadn’t stopped at that gas station we would have been gnawing on our fingers for breakfast.

Not only can a GPS send you to scary parts of town and keep you from eating breakfast right when you want it, but it can also keep a close eye on your travels just like your own personal stalker. I mean maybe if you’re a parent and think your kid is getting into all sorts of shenanigans on the weekends this could be a good idea, but come on. If you’re letting your kid just take the car then you need to instill some amount of trust in his or her judgment.

A GPS may seem like a great idea but it seems to cause more frustration than it’s worth. You don’t know how to get some place? It’s called a map, or have those gone out of style as well? It’s the only way you’re going to learn how to get around so you might as well do it the old fashioned way. Personally, I do a lot of driving when I’m at home and some of my destinations aren’t familiar to me so I do have a GPS but I also make hand written directions because I find that they are more reliable than some guy yelling at you from inside a little computer screen.