Paul Kengor: GPS is making us geographically stupid

The GPS in Global Positioning System ought to stand for Geographically Pretty Stupid. Relying on GPS, even with its indisputable benefits, is making us a nation of geographic illiterates.

Not that geography was a strong point for Americans. We’ve all heard horror stories of the dismally low percentage of Americans who can find even Texas on a map. In my lectures on China and Taiwan, I cite data on how few Americans can locate either country, even as our nation has long had a security commitment to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. I ask students: “Do you think Americans will want to defend Taiwan when they can’t even find it on a map?”

But let’s stick to the geographic confines of the United States of America. And let me plead guilty.

Last week, I drove a rental car from New York City to a small town in New Hampshire. I had no map in the car (our family vehicles have a travel atlas). Like a geographically blind idiot, I counted solely on my hand-held gizmo (my phone and its Google Maps GPS) to get me out of Manhattan, northward onto the Hudson Parkway, and eventually into Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and ultimately New Hampshire.

All along, I had no idea where I was going, or even which state was next. I found myself pleasantly surprised to be in Vermont.

Once leaving New Hampshire, I was back in Vermont again, passing through beautiful rural environs, and then into eastern New York and ultimately across I-90 all the way home to Grove City. I was grateful to my gizmo for the scenic cruise and perfect directions. But what would have happened if my phone battery had run out, or if I lost reception (which actually happened in a remote part of New Hampshire)?

I would have been up a Vermont creek without a paddle. That’s what would have happened.

Appreciative as I was for the flawless GPS navigation, it was lamentable that I never had a larger map to forecast where I was going. I was totally reliant on the phone clipped below my radio. It was a feeling of helpless ignorance. You have no large-scale image of what’s ahead of you. And if your GPS has that ability, how many users actually use it? By and large, the thing tells you where to turn and when. You do as you’re told.

Not that long ago, after my wife and I were married in May 1993, Susan was my co-pilot and navigator. With map on lap sitting shotgun, she splendidly charted our course with dexterity and accuracy. This led to many pleasant back-road voyages. In the early 2000s, we drove across the country twice. We really saw the country in ways that people who fly never experience. Our kids, in the process, learned the nation’s geography. We had no GPS back then.

That said, GPS has huge advantages. I’m genuinely amazed by the technology. Truly, I can’t imagine life again without it. It has made getting from A to B to Z unbelievably easy. You can avoid traffic jams, learn about rest stops and coffee shops ahead, and pinpoint your ETA. It provides far more pluses than negatives.

But alas, GPS is also creating a nation of geographically stupid citizens. Count me among them.