I like maps but not Maps
A friend asked me to write about why I don't like to use navigation apps in cars and I figured 'why not? it's a whimsical enough topic', so here we are.
After many frustrated years, my girlfriend bought one of those phone holders that sits at eye level and cradles your phone as you plug into Google Maps where you want to go. To most people's confusion, I almost never use it. I refuse to, often. In fact, I almost completely oppose using Maps at all. Something about the grating voice, the never-in-time instructions, the pointless 'don't exit' interruptions that wreck the flow of driving and the over-reliance on a machine I barely trust to tell me where to go just makes me angry. I'm not interested in optimisation, shaving 2 minutes from a trip by taking a stressful de-tour or being so disconnected from my surroundings that I can't get from A to B without a global positioning system. I think it's kind of childish not to know, say, how to drive to my parents' house, the rock climbing gym, my best friends' place or Mildura. I'm not that busy and life's too short to be stressed all the time.
For the worse, then, I am one of those people who you can occasionally hear pointlessly arguing with his phone. Truthfully, I fucking hate them and am continuous debate about whether it's time just to drown the fucking thing. I think a lot of people can relate to this, though I suspect my friend who asked me about this would be quizzical. Convenience isn't, for me, actually very convenient. The overly smooth, unnecessarily machined form of living something like a car guided tour represents just doesn't appeal to me. I'd rather just head out and do it solo, that feels easier and more enjoyable.
I like the Oliver Burkeman school of thought: the more you try to grasp time and eek out every time saving the more rushed and stressed you feel. You'll never have enough time and working hard to get more of it just slams that fact back into your had. On the other hand, time that feels really luxurious and long is almost completely divorced of effort. Lying my the creek listening to the water, riding a bike on a sunny day, cooking a really good meal - could be minutes or hours - it doesn't matter. So I like to resist things that purport convenience but add mania, tell me they'll make life easy, but rob me of engagement. Boredom often feels like the longest time and, far from an inconvenience, so much good shit has come out of being bored: good ideas, interesting hobbies, unusual forms of creativity. Some space in the day goes a long way, that's something I believe at least.
Also: I get a lot of satisfaction out of know how to get places. It's a weird satisfaction, sort of like bringing in the laundry or cleaning the last stubborn bit of gunk off the sink. Turning the car off after a peaceful and easy driving experience just feels stress free and simple. My job was to get somewhere, and I did it without the need for interruptions, big tech or one of those waiting-music voices harshing my mellow. I quite like driving and find it really relaxing. I have a weird pride that comes from just knowing how to get places and having a really good sense of direction. I don't mind getting slightly lost and finding my way back, and I prefer to be able to listen to music, or have a chat rather than sushing everyone in the car to find out if the map said left or right.
Plus there are road signs basically everywhere: it's not hard to read.
This tendency goes into the bucket of things that are completely idiosyncratic, largely pointless, but an outsized part of my personality. At the end of the day, like everyone, I eat, sleep, work, etc - what really sets me apart? Probably not much, but maybe one of the things is that I will almost never use Maps in the car. Beforehand I'll look it up and memorise how, and it's a bit rewarding when I get there and think 'easy done'. But that's not an easily explained or particularly well justified thing.
I guess what I'm getting at is similar to what I wrote about jogging: I don't care about measuring it or doing it well, I only care about how it feels. The best car rides feel light and easy, and there's nothing light or easy being ordered around by my phone, especially when it's telling me things I already know.
At the end of the day, I feel good to get places without using my phone, so I do it. All the writing is just backfilling something irrational.
Till next week friends