Hot take: Navigating cities with just a paper map back in the day gave me a better sense of direction than any app.

Getting truly lost a few times forced me to pay attention to landmarks and ask locals, skills that feel kinda lost now.

3 comments

3 Comments

Remembered my friend getting turned around in Montreal with just a paper map. He had to figure out the metro by asking people and spotting bakery signs, which actually stuck in his brain. That kind of fix really builds a mental picture you just don't get from turn-by-turn voice commands.

oliviabennett1mo agoMost Upvoted

Venice canals taught me that.

skyler_mitchell1mo ago

That bit about spotting bakery signs to figure out where you are really hits home. It makes me wonder how we used to pick those visual markers without even trying. Do you feel like having a map app constantly telling you where to go actually stops you from even looking at your surroundings? My sense of place got way worse when I started just following the blue line.