I was coming home late last night from the airport in a cab when there was suddenly a lot of traffic. The cab driver, maybe in his late 60s, asked, “Do you mind if I get us out of this mess?”
I looked at my phone and it appeared the traffic would clear in 14 minutes. I said, “what are you thinking?” “I know some back roads,” he answered.
I looked at my phone and responded, “I think we’ll be all right in a bit.” He said, “before GPS we knew how to get around, ya know.” I said, “let’s go for it.” He smiled in the rear view mirror.
For the next 8-9 minutes the back roads were our back up. We made sudden left and right turns. We pumped the brakes and accelerated down narrow streets. Then I remembered the way we used to drive before GPS and had to deal with unexpected traffic. We figured it out. We adapted. We made our way.
The taxi driver’s instincts in the end saved us about 5 minutes. But more importantly, they reminded me what GPS and tech in general has added and also subtracted from our lives.
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