We are doomed young people don't know directions

a reply to: JAGStorm

To be honest I only usually use landmarks to get around town and navigate. So yes if I am driving out of town I have to have a GPS. So I am good as long as the satellites stay up and going.

a reply to: fredrodgers1960

I think you answered this

Will they lose an internal sense of space and geography? No one has truly sorted out the costs and benefits of this disembodiment.

www.forbes.com...
Millennials Struggle to Pass Life Skills 101

a reply to: JAGStorm

Took my neice to see a "pay phone". Finally found one...and she came back confused.

"Where's the screen at? And I can't TEXT on it! I picked it up and it's dead! How can use that thing?"

Lost...totally...if the grid ever goes down....all is lost on them

Map reading might be another lost skill. If I am headed some where less familiar, I use a map.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Some how, that doesn't overly surprise me, and it should.

Map reading skills are probably just as bad.

a reply to: strongfp

Nothing wrong with using 'em, but isn't it nice to have the ability to get from point A to point B without it?

a reply to: JAGStorm

I often have to listen to colleagues giving directions to our office over the phone to people who need to visit us. They do so without reference to a starting point or direction, give instructions to "turn" without mentioning whether it is to the left or the right, and make no attempt to quantify the distances involved. It's a mystery how anyone finds us.

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: JAGStorm

Lost...totally...if the grid ever goes down....all is lost on them

www.powermag.com...

This article says if the grid goes down experts believe 90% of people will die.

One estimate is that within a year or so, two-thirds of the United States population would die. people would die from hunger, from starvation, from lack of water, and from social disruption

I totally believe this. It isn't from lack of water either, it is from the ability to find and then to purify water, and of course to know directions enough to know where you need to go!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Do you really think that many people would die because they don't know to boil water before drinking it? I really hope you're wrong.

If you're not, then we, as older folk, have truly screwed this up.

a reply to: seagull

I believe it

www.foxnews.com...

Only a third of respondents knew how to naturally ignite a fire, and 44 percent had never been camping before. Moreover, half of the young adults surveyed were unable to tie a survival knot, less than a third had ever caught their own fish, and 40 percent of young people surveyed reported having never swum in open water.

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?

I think that's what many of us warn and worry about. If modern technologies fail for some reason.....long term lack of electricity etc., then many will be SOL. It's a sad state of affairs when a person can't do basic math, read a map, know direction or cook a meal with the knowledge they contain between their ears and the physical capabilities of their own bodies. When people don't know Chicken of the Sea is tuna fish and not chicken, meat comes from animals and not the grocery store and some of the most basic textile materials information, there in lies the downfall of people.

It's all great when technology works for you but when it doesn't work and you're in trouble - big enough trouble that you can't get yourself out of because your don't know how, then it's not only bad, but lethal for some. You shouldn't be dependent on technology in order to live and thrive.

Isn´t this taught in schools anymore?


We had to write a couple of directional advices. That means, you got a map of the town and the teacher would draw two points on it. Then we would write notes just like we would talk to a stranger, using prominent buildings and such to explain them their way.

I was part of the german language class. My son even had to write those in english.

My opinion is, everyone, especially kids should be able to point out north -the rest of the directions, too- at daylight without a compass, maybe not even a watch.

That´s one of the important things when you live rural, maybe in the city it´s not so important but still. I consider this a basic life skill.

a reply to: verschickter

Being aware of your surroundings and relationship to them is important? Nonsense.

Everything you need to know is right there in your palm. And you never need be bored either. Games galore! Waiting for a bus. Waiting for the light to change. No need to think your own thoughts. Continuous entertainment.

a reply to: Phage

Some cities here in my country already installed floor traffic lights so 24/7 mobilephone users are safe from their own stupidness. Can you believe that??

Floor traffic light

People are seemingly bone idle these days. Unless you're out in the sticks roads are usually labelled, street signs and stuff. Motorways tend to have multiple signs warning of on ramps, off ramps etc.

Meh, people are too distracted to take things in, too preoccupied to be engaging their brain. I have friends like that, I enjoy trying to get them to think and interact "normally" but sometimes it's easier teaching a tree math.

What am I saying... I find this stuff amusing, love people getting their phone out to use as a compass or something whilst I stand and point in the direction for them to look up with a bizarre look of puzzlement on their face

Telling the time by the sun is fun too, most people just don't get the simplicity of our reality. I'd argue we're losing a very fundamental part of being human. We're designed for travel and navigation.

a reply to: verschickter

In China they're trialling iPhone walkways!

Link

Hahaha I love it.

The bible needs another update

...And idiots shall inherit the earth and starve in its soil because there was no phone screen available.

a reply to: RAY1990

I confess, I've deliberately walked in front of pedestrians who were glued to their devices.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Meh.

I got out of the marine corps at 23(2009) and moved(drove) from Missouri to Washington without any GPS or maps. Hell, I didnt own a smart phone til 3 years ago lol.

I don't know if I qualify as "young" anymore but I'm definitely not old! There is hope for us...

A2D

a reply to: Phage

I hope you shouted oops and held back the laughter, I used to have a work colleague I used to trip up for the same reason, good times haha.