I grew up in a small (30k pop) city in "rural" Missouri and had no idea when I was going when my parents drove me around as a kid. I got older and started slinging pizzas and learned every nook and cranny in the whole town. This was before google maps took over. It's cool to learn every which way to get around a small town, but probably not that important in the grand scheme. I'm happy to offload this computation to my smart phone these days.
Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
11–20 of 76 posts
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#12I believe that, I use a website called Citystrides that tracks my runs from Runkeeper and plots all my runs onto a map, the idea is to run your whole city, this is my map now: https://imgur.com/S3sTSml
Before a run, I will roughly sketch out my route and then run it.
Before I started I only knew the main roads, now I know areas I didn't know before, and I know a lot of the shortcuts and how everything is connected.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#13That’s how I feel if you use GPS navigation a lot. When I moved to LA I used my cell phone a lot to get to places but after a while I realized that I didn’t really know where things are. Now I am making a point to use the phone as little as possible and I feel I have a much better idea where things are.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#14I grew up poor, and we had no vehicle, ever. We did a lot of walking. From age 10 or so, I was quite the explorer (didn't have great supervision, but I also grew up in a smallish city of around 30k, not a large city). I certainly am not the world's best navigator, but I feel like I can drop down in the middle of any city and get around pretty well.
I say that I never know where I'm but always reach my destination*.
Is weird.
P.D: And almost 90% of time I ask (because i feel lost) "where is X i looking for" and is around the block or even closer...
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#15I grew up in a small (30k pop) city in "rural" Missouri and had no idea when I was going when my parents drove me around as a kid. I got older and started slinging pizzas and learned every nook and cranny in the whole town. This was before google maps took over. It's cool to learn every which way to get around a small town, but probably not that important in the grand scheme. I'm happy to offload this computation to…
This comment reminded me about "The Knowledge" [0] that London cab drivers must have before they're able to be a cab driver.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom...
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#16I don't believe this, I think some people are imbued with a sense of direction and others aren't. Some are only capable of following turn by turn instructions, they don't comprehend where they are in relation to anything.
My two older kids have the worst sense of direction I've ever encountered but my 3 year old has built in GPS. We were all in the car going somewhere one day and sitting at an intersection my 3 year old says "the Indian restaurant is over there" and points in the direction of a restaurant we frequent that was about 1/2 mile away. The 14 year old looks at me confused and I nodded "yes".
I work in a building that's rotationally symmetrical and the only indications of orientation are the carpet colors for the 4 quadrants. I'm consistently amazed at how many people will get off an elevator and have no idea which direction to go. I've tried given cardinal directions to no avail, some people are just oblivious to their surroundings.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#17In my neighborhood, on a dead end street we would make cars wait while a hockey play was in flight. One more second please Mrs. Stevenson!
That same street is a ghost town not really because of cars but two things. 1. Empty nesters didn't move out and 2. The kids that are there would rather be in front of a screen then wonder outside.
If you saw a kid outside you would jump out the door and play. That doesn't happen like it use to.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#18I grew up in a suburban community. Nothing was in walking distance and everywhere I went, I was driven.
When my mom asked me where the roads were in our city, I listed all the ones I could remember, but I listed none in order and missed a lot. My mom was perplexed, she said “how could you not know where the roads are? I drive you everywhere.”
I think we don’t realize that the amount of control we have over a situation changes our memory of the situation. There’s no reason to remember if there’s no impact of knowing, despite being present in the same situation. I think this can answer why online classes are hard, why some students don’t learn from lectures and why there’s wisdom in the phrase “you learn by doing”.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#19I drive myself everywhere and still don't know where I'm going.
i chuckled. do you use gps?
It's for the explicit reason I refuse to use it, basically. So I at least know the routes I take frequently and have a chance to learn new ones from time to time.
I remember years ago when I still used a GPS there were routes I would drive frequently that I couldn't drive without the GPS.
But what I really meant by the comment is despite living 30 years in the same city I barely know where anything is. Especially in comparison to everyone else I know they can all describe where things are via nearby business, other landmarks and adjacent suburbs and I am lost at to which part of the city the first suburb they mentioned is even in. I also have very little mental models of how one suburb connects to another. It's like each suburb lives in it's own isolate container and when I imagine it all I see in my mind is the main commercial area of that suburb.
One of these days I'm thinking of just using Anki to memorize my entire city and be done with it.
Re: Kids Who Get Driven Everywhere Don't Know Where They're Going (2012)
#20This is true to an extent. But at the same time the argument is kind of flawed: can kids safely walk around their neighborhoods nowadays? At least where I lived, the city was nice but there were too many cars and it was unusual to see anyone walking... nevertheless kids walking.
Not sure where you are in the world, but in most of the developed world things have never been safer. So, the answer to your questions is a resounding "yes". Yes, it's safe for kids to walk around their neighborhoods these days.
I live in Cupertino, near Apple HQ. Obviously you can walk around but I rarely see anyone do... and I generally have never seen kids unattended around here (living here for 17 years).