Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
Mapquest and the Big Picture
Over the weekend, Ben and I went to a potluck in Fenton, Missouri. The first few minutes of the trip, we flew down I-44. Then we suddenly hit construction, and traffic stopped completely. For the next fifteen minutes, we inched forward and covered only a few hundred feet.
I looked at the Mapquest directions on the seat beside me. I knew exactly one route for getting to this house. But I cannot stand sitting still in traffic, especially with a toddler who could start melting down at any moment. I reached behind me, feeling around for an atlas. More Mapquest directions. A filthy sippy cup. A copy of The Little Kitten. Finally, I found it.
I looked at the St. Louis detail map and tried to plan an alternate route. I thought I found one, and was soon whizzing down I-270. Soon, though, the thought, "Hey, I've never headed towards Memphis before!" was followed by the realization that that's because Memphis is the wrong way. We drove around for a little while, and eventually I got turned around the right direction and we made it to the potluck using a combination of Mapquest and the atlas. Ben gets bonus points for reading peacefully the whole time.
The experience made me reflect on our Mapquest culture, though. Does having precise directions everywhere compromise our sense of geography? Do we know exactly where specific things are, only to have no idea of the big picture?
We moved to the St. Louis area last summer. Even before arriving, I printed out directions to the nearest grocery store, the nearest mall, the nearest Target. We also had a large map from our Realtor, but I found myself relying on the printed slips of paper.
Mapquest is marvelous at getting people where they want to go. You can give it a fragment of address and it can give you very specific directions from nearly anywhere. But it can also encourage linear, one-track thinking. Sometimes the best routes are not necessarily the most direct; other routes may be prettier, or more convenient, or faster when you factor in the traffic lights. Relying too heavily on Mapquest takes away from an undertanding of how streets and towns fit together, and it can compromise our own ability to make choices.
I think we're probably in this direction as a society. One of the pleasures of looking words up in the dictionary, for example, is the serendipitous discovery of new words, or words you only half knew. On dictionary.com, though, you find only the word you're looking for (unless you're bad at spelling). When I turn on the TiVo, I see only what I want to see; this means I hardly ever watch commercials, or the local news. I won't flip through and discover something new to like. Most of the time it's a tradeoff I'll gladly make.
I hope, though, that these new technologies don't lead to less flexible thinking; if they do, then, despite Mapquest's best efforts--or maybe because of them--we will have lost our way.
I looked at the Mapquest directions on the seat beside me. I knew exactly one route for getting to this house. But I cannot stand sitting still in traffic, especially with a toddler who could start melting down at any moment. I reached behind me, feeling around for an atlas. More Mapquest directions. A filthy sippy cup. A copy of The Little Kitten. Finally, I found it.
I looked at the St. Louis detail map and tried to plan an alternate route. I thought I found one, and was soon whizzing down I-270. Soon, though, the thought, "Hey, I've never headed towards Memphis before!" was followed by the realization that that's because Memphis is the wrong way. We drove around for a little while, and eventually I got turned around the right direction and we made it to the potluck using a combination of Mapquest and the atlas. Ben gets bonus points for reading peacefully the whole time.
The experience made me reflect on our Mapquest culture, though. Does having precise directions everywhere compromise our sense of geography? Do we know exactly where specific things are, only to have no idea of the big picture?
We moved to the St. Louis area last summer. Even before arriving, I printed out directions to the nearest grocery store, the nearest mall, the nearest Target. We also had a large map from our Realtor, but I found myself relying on the printed slips of paper.
Mapquest is marvelous at getting people where they want to go. You can give it a fragment of address and it can give you very specific directions from nearly anywhere. But it can also encourage linear, one-track thinking. Sometimes the best routes are not necessarily the most direct; other routes may be prettier, or more convenient, or faster when you factor in the traffic lights. Relying too heavily on Mapquest takes away from an undertanding of how streets and towns fit together, and it can compromise our own ability to make choices.
I think we're probably in this direction as a society. One of the pleasures of looking words up in the dictionary, for example, is the serendipitous discovery of new words, or words you only half knew. On dictionary.com, though, you find only the word you're looking for (unless you're bad at spelling). When I turn on the TiVo, I see only what I want to see; this means I hardly ever watch commercials, or the local news. I won't flip through and discover something new to like. Most of the time it's a tradeoff I'll gladly make.
I hope, though, that these new technologies don't lead to less flexible thinking; if they do, then, despite Mapquest's best efforts--or maybe because of them--we will have lost our way.
posted by Tess | 10:15 AM
1 Comments:
I did fine in Madison for the first five months because of Mapquest, but that's because Madison is both (relatively) small and easily navigated. However, I experienced a startling loss of geography when I lived in Norwich, England. I had no car and traveled only by bus and on foot. If a bus didn't go there, neither did I, and generally I had to return to the same busstop each time because I didn't know enough about the roads to find the next one on the line. As a result, I have a terrible, horrible concept of geography in that city!
Post a Comment
<< Home