Re:My experiment in phonelessness was a failure. It also cha...
by syntheticnature on Thursday February 08, 2024 @10:19AM
(#39302912)
From my observations, people's innate ability to relate a map to the world varies. There are some studies attempting to tie this to gender, but my experience is that is not a hard line at all. I'm sure training is a component, of course, but some folks do not tie the abstraction to the real world well at all.
I seem to be good at it, but no one in my wife's family is, so during family get-togethers on that side I'm usually driving or navigating. The fact I can retrace a path I took two years prior from memory is an astonishing feat to them.
Re:My experiment in phonelessness was a failure. It also cha...
by edgarvaldes on Thursday February 08, 2024 @11:48AM
(#39304217)
When I'm inside the house (any house, but including my own), I often point to a direction when talking about a nearby place. People laugh and correct me because the place I'm talking about is to the north, not to the south as I point out with my finger. I can't go back to a place I was last week without asking for directions. I walk and turn the wrong corner in familiar environments, etc.
I love GPS now.
This is one of the two reasons I believe I cannot get rid of a phone. After getting lost in a not great neighborhood in the 1990's and getting jumped, I have pretty severe anxiety about travel to places that I am unfamiliar with. GPS has been a godsend.
And pictures of my kids. There is no more convenient way to take constant pictures and videos of my kids than with my phone. I don't remember entire years of my life, and therefore their lives. But I have pictures and videos to remind me!