About a month ago, I was sitting in the car with my parents, just having a casual conversation about going somewhere or finding something, who really knows. The point is, I'm in the back seat, and they ask me where we are. This is a common question on our car rides, and from time to time, the question varies. Some days it may be “which direction are we going” or “what street is this”, but regardless of how it is phrased, I find myself figuring out where I am going, one way or another. When I finally started driving places on my own, I found myself not requiring GPS to get around, which in this day and age is a huge feat for most. But it's something that's second nature to me, as I've always had to figure out where I am using my resources, without modern technology. Many people nowadays never really know where they are going; if they lost signal, they would be lost too. Navigation is among the many things I was tasked with learning when I was younger, and they have served me well over the years. Even though it seemed like fun and pointless little games when I was younger, it's made life a bit simpler when venturing out into the real world. That being said, here's a list of techniques and practices that have become obsolete due to the innovations of modern technology.
Navigation
First on the list is obviously navigation. With the invention of GPS, many people don't ever really rely on the provided tools –street signs, exit numbers, mile markers, etc— to get around and instead use their phones to tell them where to go (which takes a crazy amount of trust, in my opinion but I digress). As I mentioned earlier, I was always asked where we're going anytime we were in the car. Whether on the highway or the street or some back road, it was important for my parents to train me to know where I am and how to get there.
Dictionaries
My parents used to make me use the dictionary allllll the time. I was, lowkey, a really annoying kid, and I was always asking questions because I wanted to know absolutely everything under the sun. So whenever I would bug them and I asked what something was or what it meant, my dad would always, instead of just answering my question, yell out from wherever he was, “GO GET THE DICTIONARY,” and I would do it. This taught me three things (I think): learning how to figure out and find information on my own, a plethora of new words, and not to ask so many questions.
Spelling & grammar
In that same thread, cell phones have created a lack of a need for using language, spelling and grammar properly, due equally in part to autocorrect and slang/abbreviated language. Sometimes when I'm talking to people in my grade or younger than me, I lowkey don't know what they're saying half the time, so I'm like “whadid you just say cause that made absolutely no sense.” Also, I don't know if this is just a me thing, but I find myself having to restrain myself from correcting people all the time. Over the years I've gotten much better, but there are rules of language for a reason, use them. Now there are some exceptions to it, English is one of the hardest and most complex languages in the world with all its rules and stipulations but like, if you know that you're saying something wrong, and you’ve been told over and over that the way you are using isn't correct, why wouldn't you strive to fix it. Maybe that's just me though, idk.
Sidenote: This also applies to punctuation and capitalization too
Sidenote: This also applies to punctuation and capitalization too
Cursive
There seems to be some commonalities between these but that is besides the point. I don’t write in cursive because it looks bad so I don't do it often, but it's obsolescence and the rise of computerized technology has allowed for such a curriculum to be removed from schools and a loss of the practice. I was taught how to write in cursive, and I know how to read it but nine times out of ten, I'm on my computer or writing in print, so when or why would I use it. In the aforementioned car conversation, my parents brought up how people don't really know how to do a lot of things anymore and how they have become obsolete, cursive being one of the things on their list. I think this is at the fault of computers and keyboards, because if people are typing, they'll just find a cursive font to do the work for them and people didn't really write with paper and pen anymore because everything has become digitized.
Calculating tips
Everytime we get the bill at a restaurant, my parents immediately pass it to our side of the table while they wait for the waiter to come back, and we have to figure out the tip as fast as possible and whoever is closest would win. Now while this feels like a fun little mini-game, it actually teaches you how to calculate tips and percentages of a price quickly, how to balance and budget money and how gratuity affects the bill. I was very competitive as a kid and so I would always try and get as close to the cent value as possible, and although my older sisters would get it faster, I was the true winner (in my heart). Essentially we would get a bill and calculate how much 15% tip would be (this is pre-inflation like the mid-2010's) and there wasn't a real reward except the validation of knowing you got it right, which was enough for me. But now at restaurants, they have those little machines at the table or they have an automatic gratuity applied to the bill, so the consumer doesn't really have to do much work, just swipe and go.
Remembering Phone Numbers & Addresses
One time, I remember wanting to go play outside with my sisters and my cousins, and my parents made me sit down at the dining room table until they knew that I had memorized our address, everyone's phone numbers, and that I knew what to do in case of an emergency, like getting kidnapped or something (I don't really remember exactly why because I was like 6, but still). My cousin, who lives around the corner from me and has lived there her entire life, still doesn't know my address to this day. Part of it could be because of proximity and just like familiarity but I think that the ability to just save someone in your phone and have all their information laid out in front of you plays a role because it requires that part of your brain to be dormant or filled with other, arguably less valuable, information.
Socialization
I was walking down the hall the other day and noticed everyone moving so slowly because they were glued to their phones. I get checking your phone sometimes, but it’s crazy how people can’t disconnect for a minute. Like, whatever is on your phone isn’t going to disappear if you take two minutes to get to your destination. Whenever I am with other people, I make it a point to be present. Whether I'm with my family during meals and I'm leaving my phone upstairs, or hanging out with my friends, I want to be present in the moment. My dad is an iPad kid–and my mom too, if I'm being completely honest, so I have to get him off his phone if I want to actually have a conversation, because he literally gets sucked into the matrix. It's insane. The idea that we always have to be on our phones is something that really bothers me because there's really nothing that interesting on there. I want to do an activity. I don't want to sit on our phones the whole time in silence. I can do that at home. Let's get out and do something, or stay in and play a game or watch a movie or something. I just feel like being glued to your phone all the time is kind of miserable. There’s so much to do and see outside of that screen. I’m not saying, “I hate phones or social media, I never use it and I'm a perfect angel”– well, scratch that last part, I am a perfect angel. Yes, I am a victim of being sucked into the matrix, but the important thing about being sucked in is that you know how to get out. That you aren't constantly reliant on the screen like a crack fein (bars). Moral of the story: be able to put the phone down and be present.
Common Sense*
Now this one…all I shall say is that common sense isn't always common. And yes, there is no such thing as a dumb question, but why do you not know what the capital of the country is… Why don't you know how many pennies are in $2… Like some things are just so simple and straightforward that it's insane that you don't know it, like I feel like you have to be borderline senile to excuse not knowing these things. I acknowledge that, yes, it's a failure of the education systems, but also do your parents not tell you anything ever? I was watching a tik tok of these two girls taking one of those like “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader” type of tests and they were asking basic questions like the ones I mentioned earlier and I was just like “oh…” cause I couldn't tell if they were acting dumb to be funny or if they were actually just dumb, which are two totally different things, but, I don't understand why one would act dumb for any reason. Like that just makes you seem undesirable and idiotic to me, and I, obviously, am not one to find humor or interest in idiocracy. Like until you start using your brain, get away please. DON'T BE DUMB, it is my biggest pet peeve.
That's all I really have, but um yea I don't know what else to say…all of these problems have one thing in common, though! It's that damn phone.
