Google Maps- A lock on our brain

Over-dependence on an app has the potential to impair our brain power. Our driving on Google Maps deprives us of our right to enjoy the geographic beauty we pass by. The app locks our eyes and brains within it. Often we reach the wrong place, a dead-end of the road that would address us with a board: “trespassers will be prosecuted.” A way out of the trap is to be out of the Map. Seek the support of wayfarers familiar with the route but not the “friendly” app.

Today without Google Maps it is difficult to travel from place to place. We focus not only on Google Maps but many other apps that support us with routes by guiding and helping us. Until one and half decades ago people were not aware of Google Maps. Users were fewer in the early days. Maybe, we can say that in the last five to eight years people have started using Google maps actively and unavoidably. Now it has become a part of our life. Even though you know the road you will still open the maps because you want to drive fast and get an easy route to travel. That means even if you know the route you will choose the map and take the help of other apps.

Google Map is incredibly accurate but it still has slip-ups. Unfortunately, we don’t realise that with the help of Google or any other supporting system we are unable to do many things. When you drive in a particular place with the support of the app you concentrate on the app, but not the places you pass by. This is going to make your brain of no use or what is around you will never come to your attention. You are not looking at the places around you and not identifying the place that you pass by while driving as your attention is locked in the app. This will either impair or curtail your brain. Mechanically accustomed to it, over a period you cannot drive your car or any other vehicle without the support of the app. The concentration on the app alone may trigger a possibility of an accident since you keep paying attention to the app intermittently while focusing on the road ahead.

There was a time earlier or a long time ago when we used to drive our vehicles without the help of any navigation app. That was a time when we used to ask passersby, a shopkeeper on the midway or other drivers to find the route. There was no problem at that time to find an address anywhere and reach it on time. Also, that allowed us to talk to other people. Sometimes, these passersby or shopkeepers would also show us a shorter and better way to reach the particular address. That was unlike Google, which often misguides us by taking us a roundabout way to reach a particular spot. We don’t realise that Google map is ultimately a mere software. In software, there are chances of errors.

Then Google is not going to come to your mind to tell you what is suitable for your vehicle. The app is not equipped with what is suitable for us. When you start your journey, it will only inform you that you will reach your destination by a particular time. But you will not touch the destination on time. Many people think that Google can do many things, but Google cannot predict the future or the upcoming time of the journey. That is a drawback. Google has control only over the start time of our journey. The app does not warn us about traffic jams and other real-time road issues when we are on the wheel. The app may show a traffic jam at the time of your departure though the route may have no traffic jam, in reality, forcing you to take another route. On the course of the new route, you may face the reverse experience with a heavy traffic jam that you may realise mid-way as you are jammed by vehicles on all sides.

People follow apps trusting that the data it provides is accurate. We don’t resort to fact-checking against the details that the app provides by calling someone to learn the route condition. This behaviour of depending on an app has chopped the natural capacity of our brain.

The youngsters are over-depended on apps to the extent that the apps will consistently damage their brains. They do not ask others for solutions to their problems but search through the internet. They will never ask a passerby to help them reach their destination. And they are unaware of the old system of travelling.

People haven’t understood that Google is only showing them the way it cannot decide when you will reach your spot. It is impossible. You cannot guess whether you can reach your destination on time. If your vehicle is big and the road is narrow where Google takes you, your journey to the destination will automatically be disrupted due to the narrow roads which the app may not pinpoint. The app will not compare the size of the road with your vehicle size. It also cannot confirm if the road ahead is drivable for the size of the car that you are in.

 We can say many times we all may have been trapped in traffic, taking the advice of Google Maps. The map seems to take us incorrectly with inaccurate information about the destination schedule. When you reach some places according to the app guide, you will realise there is no road ahead or a good road to drive. Sometimes, when you wish to drive through an unknown location and just drive for a long time, there are chances that you will end up on a private road or a closed road or a bad road unsuitable for travelling.

So apps for our assistance is important in our life, but it should be only a part of our life. We should not make them our life and depend on them completely. Life is beautiful in front of you, but we are not able to cherish its beauty due to the usage of such apps. Driving without an app will boost your brain and allow you to see the admirable beauty of the places you freely pass by.