We are doomed young people don't know directions

a reply to: TheRedneck

I know exactly what you mean about this modern high tech stuff.

Had an insurance guy come to my house a few months ago. I offered to give directions over the phone, but he had "GPS".
About an hour later he called and said my house was not at the address I had given. Said all he saw was a large pasture, a big tank, and some trees. I asked him if he remembered crossing a certain major highway about two miles back. He said yes but how do I know how far back it was. I told him he was four miles from my house because I lived two miles east of this highway. I gave him some simple directions and he was here in about ten minutes.

I don't have this stuff myself and don't want it. I was raised in the woods and developed a good sense of direction. I couldn't get lost if I had to.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Yes, everybody who's young enough to understand how to actually use technology to their advantage relies on said technology more than old people do.

Don't get too damn excited, young whipper-snapper. This old goat can likely run tech circles around you. I create the things you use.

TheRedneck

a reply to: DanDanDat

Yet Another Person Listens to GPS App and Drives Car Into Lake

nymag.com...
I think this is hilarious!

Hey DanDanDat, I'm all for technology, I just think we are losing some of the more basic skills that we might need one day. Just like the example above, we can't rely on tech 100% and a lot of people are doing just that. My examples might be more common than people realize.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I still remember stopping at pay phones to call my friends to ask for directions and jotting them down.

I gotta agree tho, and I am guilty, I rely on my phones navigation to get out of certain areas and what not. But to be honest, when you drive deep into suberbia for a dinner with a friend, and it's late at night getting 'out' to the major roads can be difficult when everything looks the same.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Man. You just like picking on CS people and millenials dontchya? Oh. What if the CS Macy's people were outsourced millennials? Mind....blown!

They don't even have compasses as a surprise in Cracker Jacks any more.

a reply to: tinymind

Exactly.

I seem to even be able to tell north from south without a landmark most of the time. I guess it has to do with me walking around the woods so much when I was younger. I'm losing a little of my hearing, but I can still zone in on the location of a noise. And I tend to sneak up on people without trying... all of which I attribute to just getting out and walking around to see what my surroundings held.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: skunkape23
They don't even have compasses as a surprise in Cracker Jacks any more.

No because they are afraid today's kids would eat them and parents would sue!

Back in the day they had tiny metal and even lead figures in there!

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: Shamrock6

Yes, everybody who's young enough to understand how to actually use technology to their advantage relies on said technology more than old people do.

Don't get too damn excited, young whipper-snapper. This old goat can likely run tech circles around you. I create the things you use.

TheRedneck

You have to watch this!!
www.youtube.com...

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Yes folks, if there is ever an EMP or something, only old, but healthy people will probably survive.

I've had two young people (old enough to drive) recently that did not know how to get to their own homes because either their phones
were dead or GPS was not available!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not great at directions, if anything i'm pretty bad at it, but I have to say if you are of driving age and have lived in the same place all your life,
how on God's earth do you not know how to get home??? Where we live is not complicated either.

If that problem came up, I'd give them a quarter to call their parents so they could pick them up and then teach them directions!! Sorry, I just had to say that!!!

originally posted by: DanDanDat
a reply to: rickymouse

I dont agree; I'm an engineer ... I have never used a slide rule to make a calculation, I hear they where great back in their day allowing humans to make complex calculations on the fly and I've had my older colleagues tell me how my generation and younger aren't as good at engineering work because we dont know the mathematics as well as they do because we have new technology to do that work for us.

In some ways they are correct; if the new technology were to disappear we would be at a disadvantage. However with the new technology our work product is orders of managatude more efficient, safe, reliable and accurate. Sure we couldn't easly go back to a time before the new technology.... but why would any one want to?

WE no longer have a microwave oven, we never got a new one when it caught fire about five years ago. You know what, we do not miss it, we did not miss it a week later, in fact we like that we do not have one anymore.

I still have my slide rule, we were just looking at it last week. A calculator is not a bad thing though, but to develop intellect and short term memory, regular math is better than a calculator.

The thing is that people do not need to think now, an engineer can just use a computer to do calculations and that makes it efficient. Now could you do your job if all the technology disappeared, could you figure out something by just your intellect, do you completely understand how to figure out pressures and loads and forces without a computer? An oldtimer memorized concepts and patterns, they knew how to apply different things without a computer filling in the blanks. You are probably pretty reliant on technology to do your job. The thing is, what if all of a sudden the power grid crashed or your power was diverted somewhere else, could you still do what you do?

I learned a lot of different professions in my life, engineering is not one of them but I made up my own plans for houses most times. I tended to overbuild by a long shot, I did not like the chinsy and inefficient house plans that were out there.

The saddest thing about society is that people think that technology is their strength but 99.9% of these fools don't realize how vulnerable they are and how infantile they are. They have truly been infantilized while making them think they are more advanced than their elders b/c they know how to click some buttons.

Now if you show me a person who uses this tech, that can also design, build and repair the tech, now that is a person who is worth something, because about 99.99% of the time if you know how to do these things you also know the fundementals of what you are doing and can also do it the old fashion way.

I'll take an Amish teen over most of today's youth any day. Those Amish kids can learn what todays super special smart kids do in a few days and be up to speed, while normal kids could never do what most Amish kids do/did growing up. Obviously not all in either group are top knotch or bottom rung, but you get the idea.

a reply to: Shamrock6

I am a baby boomer and I got lost twice trying to find the
hospital my husband was in.I had no problem one day finding
it and the next day I missed my turn.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

I am an expert side-seat driver,just ask my husband!

a reply to: JAGStorm

An old person here...I go by the shopping stores nearby!

a reply to: Cloro

I blame too much dependence on technology!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Ask a young person to read an analog clock. The look on their face is priceless.

I have noticed most people don't understand directions based on cardinal directions.

My world is more like a map and N or E makes senses. I convert people's left and right into a compass direction and visualize where it is on the map.

I have actually used a slide rule for computations. Not any more.

I headed up to the top of a summit west of here to align an antenna. 2 young kids showed up from the antenna manufacturer.

I'm on the ladder, ratcheting down the mount. I lean over and speak to the guys down below.

"Hey guys, grab the compass out of my bag and tell me which way is north so I can tighten this thing down."

They both stood there with shocked looks on their faces. Neither of them knew what one looked like, and using one was an impossible request.

Seriously.

I went down, grabbed the compass and showed them both something they had never seen before. If an EMP takes everything out, these kids are toast.

Fred..

a reply to: JAGStorm