Why I Now Hate GPS Units and How They Will Lead to the End of the Human Race

You know those portable GPS things that people use to get places they are unfamiliar with? Well, they need to be destroyed. I just returned from a trip to Montreal with some friends and unfortunately we were at the mercy of one of these units.

Here are some of the things I blame this machine for: 1) it made us take the craziest route to the border which must have been completely based on distance and not road condition, speed limit, potential for fatal accident, etc. 2) The border checkpoint we were guided to is probably the least used checkpoint in the eastern half of the US-Canada border- as a result the entire car was searched, we were detained for 5 hours, and then denied entrance into Canada (this had something to do with illegal knives in the glove compartment). 3) When we finally got to Montreal it led us to the other Prince Arthur St. just to add a bit of insult to injury. 4) On the drive home, in the worst driving conditions I had ever seen due to snow, the route we were forced to follow went straight through the White Mountains in New Hampshire which was probably the most dangerous stretch of road around. That drive took at least 2 years off of my life, thanks GPS.

Why not just get directions from Mapquest or someone who has driven to Montreal before? The answer is simple: we had the GPS. We were invincible. It uses satellites, which seems more foolproof than Mapquest at least. Thats the reason these things are so dangerous- they give you a false sense of security and do not require any prior knowledge of the places you are driving through.

I hope to never own such a device. The more people use them, the lower the world's total knowledge of directions will be- if we all use GPS this theoretically won't be a problem, assuming the technology becomes affordable for more people.

Admittedly, GPS can be helpful in certain situations. The devices are pretty much digital phone books, containing names, numbers, and addresses of local businesses which can be very helpful. Also, if you have absolutely no clue where you are, they will get you to your destination (it just may not be the fastest or least headache-inducing). Basically, the thought of taking orders from a machine scares me.