Locative Media & The City

I used to be able to recite a seven number combination in reference to every important person in my life, locations and businesses frequented, and funny numbers that just stuck with me. Travel back to the archaic ages for a moment- their phone numbers. Now I’m lucky if I remember my own phone number, let alone knowing what is my brother’s cell number. The problem isn’t that I’m not capable of remembering these numbers or that growing older has left me less time to take notice. The problem is that my handy dandy cell phone address book does all the work for me, so my brain doesn’t have to work. Doesn’t anyone else see this as a problem?

I’ve seen the same thing happen with friends that have those GPS systems in their cars. Some of them even tell me they take them out of the car and use them walking down the street to find their way. I hope I’m never witness to that. What I have witnessed is their decline in navigational senses, driving capabilities, and notice of the city around them. That smart little voice on the GPS speaks to the driver, tells them where they are, and which way to turn. Once I tried following someone who was navigating via GPS. All was going well until he missed the highway entrance. So he drove until his GPS told him to turn- but he missed that too. As the following driver, I knew which way to go, but decided to see which way the machine would direct us. I did intervene by cell phone, however, when on Main Street at Bailey Ave. he almost turned an illegal left turn because the machine told him to do so. All in all, it took a full hour to navigate (badly) with the GPS- and this was to travel from south campus to north campus. If he had ever paid attention to a map or his surroundings before (which was unlikely because of the dependence on his GPS system), this would have been an easy trip. A familiar trip as well, since it is a route he has frequently traveled. Likewise, I’ve witnessed more than one person with a GPS system drive straight through a red light without ever knowing it because the little voice said “go straight.” I nearly lost my lunch as the passenger, but fortunately that was the worst tragedy in those situations.

So here’s what worries me about technologies such as GPS systems and cell phones that do the thinking for us: we are no longer using our memories or navigational common sense to figure things out, and instead we are completely dependent on machines. And, how does this change our experience of the city? Why notice the landmarks and scenary for future traveling if we know the GPS will dictate the way? And who needs to remember a phone number to the restaurant when we have 411 on our mobile phones? The experience of walking the city is drastically changed because we no longer have to be aware. In an attempt to become faster, multi-task, we are more dependent on networks and less capable of being self-sufficient. We are not experiencing the city singularly, but instead connected to a web of information that acts as our memory, problem solver, and companion.