Children of the Purple

...Please make a legal u turn ahead

Please make a u turn now

Please take the next right turn

Right turn ahead...

It goes on and on...the soft voice in the navigation system accepting us for what we are and continuously adjusting herself to accommodate our incessant failures to follow directions...

I always wondered what if that lady giving us instructions had a voice of her own. Will she continue to be that nice to us? (I understand that some of you might have a male voice giving you guidance. For the purposes of this rant, I am keeping it as a female voice. There is no other reason behind it)

I used to joke with friends about possible App ideas where we can make Snoop Dogg give the guidance or make Late Amrish Puri (in his Mogambo voice) do the guidance. Will we pay more attention then?

Though we shared a hearty laugh of the impact various emotions those characters can bring to guidance, I always wondered is it a good thing to rely so much on guidance. Is it making us dumb and over reliant on technology? Is it making us not pay needed attention knowing that we will get the route recalculated automatically?

I remember a road trip I took in 2008. It was using paper maps. That was the last time I ever did that. Navigation systems were becoming popular then and were costing as much as an iPhone, as it costs now.

Since 2009, I have been using navigation systems or such apps for my travels. No doubt it is very comforting to know that it will help me get home from wherever I am. But is it making me rely on it too much.

Given my new found interest in technology and its influence in our life, I thought it would be better to get off the fence on this purple line that guides us home.

What am I missing by not using paper maps? Probably a whole lot of headache when there is argument over which turn to take. Probably missing out on hours poring over maps to figure out where we exactly are.

Do I miss it? No.

As of the question of becoming over reliant on rerouting and not follow instructions properly, I would say it’s a personal choice. I have seen friends who are on the edge of their seat when they are driving through uncharted routes. I have also seen folks who do not bother where they are and they just let the voice guide them patiently.

To conclude, I would happily let technology take over this one task for me. Of course the key is still to know how to read maps. If technology has taught us one thing, it is this - Always have backup of everything!!

P.S: The title was inspired by a mention in one of the Podcasts of Note to Self. I heard the mention of Purple and decided to write a note of my thoughts on the same.