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Post by epeanymous on Mar 14, 2022 23:32:43 GMT
I think as you note that kids now just rely on their phones or GPS, which is why they can't give directions. It is weird, but, then, I realize I now do not know exit numbers from highways because I, too, rely on my phone.
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Post by busy on Mar 14, 2022 23:41:38 GMT
I realize I now do not know exit numbers from highways because I, too, rely on my phone. I know street names but I don't know exit numbers and never have. I take the Glisan exit in Portland at least once a week and I couldn't tell you the number if my life depended on it. I also don't know the exit number that you take to get to our home. This has been true as long as I've been driving. I don't really know anyone who gives directions by the number of freeway exits, rather than names.
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Post by katlady on Mar 14, 2022 23:45:44 GMT
I realize I now do not know exit numbers from highways because I, too, rely on my phone. I know street names but I don't know exit numbers and never have. I take the Glisan exit in Portland at least once a week and I couldn't tell you the number if my life depended on it. I also don't know the exit number that you take to get to our home. This has been true as long as I've been driving. I don't really know anyone who gives directions by the number of freeway exits, rather than names. Here in SoCal, there are exit numbers, but no one uses them. Some times my iPhone will give me the exit number. Thanks, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. 😂
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None
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Post by None on Mar 15, 2022 0:25:48 GMT
My college age daughter says this about her college age boyfriend. My kid can get to her college from home, that is 5 hours away and get off highway to take other routes if need be. She amazes me. I get lost if you turn me around too many times. With her boyfriend she does believe it's because he doesn't pay attention as a passenger.
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PLurker
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Post by PLurker on Mar 15, 2022 0:42:41 GMT
I get it, sort of. Having just recently moved I get confused sometimes. I didn't move far enough that I don't still frequent many of the same towns. But now I'm coming and going from all different directions and I still know the way to my previous home much better. GPS is my friend, too. Or I have to actually think, and that hurts! Lol
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Post by cmpeter on Mar 15, 2022 1:03:20 GMT
We took my 8 year old niece out to look at Christmas lights last year. I was so impressed with how much she recognized the streets and neighborhoods we were driving through. You could really tell her dad talked to her a lot about where they were driving and why. I think she’s definitely unique…I know my own two adult children don’t have her sense of direction.
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Post by jenjie on Mar 15, 2022 2:41:55 GMT
Logan is better at directions than I will ever be. 🤷🏻♀️ I’ve always said he has an internal GPS. It’s not too often I can stump him.
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Post by jemali on Mar 15, 2022 2:46:52 GMT
My sister is so road smart challenged. My dd told her once that the mile markers and the Exit numbers matched up . So if you see Mike marker 53, then Exit 56 is 3 miles away. My sister told her it was just a coincidence. One time my sister and dd went somewhere together. They took Hwy 394 East. When they were going home again, my sister is watching for 394 East again. dD had to tell her No, we need to look for 394 West to get home.
DH on the other hand can go somewhere once and remember how to get there
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Post by myshelly on Mar 15, 2022 2:47:46 GMT
When I drive my kids’ friends around, I just say “what’s your address?” and put it in my GPS. No need to put the kids on the spot.
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iowgirl
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Post by iowgirl on Mar 15, 2022 3:39:28 GMT
When DS was in K and the usual bus route to our house was blocked by a fire truck, he was gave the driver alternate directions. It was a substitute driver who didn't know the neighborhood and he was blown away. Any sub drivers would ask my kids for directions. I am not totally sure why they picked my kids - but they knew the route. It was a country route and they rode it from kindergarten until the oldest turned 14 and could drive! My kids all can get around pretty good, and were just at the beginning of GPS navigation. I rely heavily on my phone telling me where to go when I go to the 'big city'. I'm lost. LOL I never use it when I am out in the country though - it is often VERY wrong in the directions.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 15, 2022 4:01:32 GMT
When I drive my kids’ friends around, I just say “what’s your address?” and put it in my GPS. No need to put the kids on the spot. A couple weeks ago, my DD’s friend needed a ride home from school when their after school club ended so I offered to take her. The kid got in the car and I asked her what her address was and she didn’t know. They’re in middle school. 😬 Thankfully she could tell me where to turn and where to go straight and I did get her home safely.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Mar 15, 2022 4:08:17 GMT
I was just thinking of this on the weekend! My son could direct someone to our house once we were in our suburb. But I noticed when we started driving lessons with him, that he had no clue whether to turn left or right onto the highway to get to the shopping centre where he's been a gazillion times. I think you're right, a lot of it has to do with them having their heads down looking at phones whenever they are in the car. There is another issue that DSO and I think is a reason they can't find their way around. When we were kids, we walked or rode our bikes everywhere. If we wanted to go to the shopping centre, we had to walk. We walked to our friends' houses, we walked to our part time jobs, we walked to school. We knew the streets in our neighbourhood and the next suburbs like the back of our hands. My kids got driven everywhere (most of the time). This was totally me too. My mom never drove us anywhere. If we wanted to go to the corner store to buy candy, to a friend’s house or to the movie theater in town, we walked or rode our bikes. We walked to and from school until we could take the school bus in high school. We weren’t allowed to get a driver’s license until we were 1) 18 years old and 2) could not only pay for our own vehicle but we also had to have a job and the money to pay for the insurance on it too. Needless to say, we walked, rode our bikes or took the city bus everywhere. ETA: We also lived in the city where all of that was possible. My kid is driven everywhere because we live in the burbs and are surrounded by highways. Unless the place you’re going to is in our same little enclave, it isn’t safe to ride a bicycle outside of our neighborhood because you’d have to cross a highway in just about every direction. There is no school, gas station, convenience store, grocery store, movie theater or really anything that’s walkable here other than the park across the street.
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Post by MalleyCat on Mar 15, 2022 4:24:11 GMT
I know how to get around my area, I just can't remember all of the street names. The same was true, when I was a new driver, 35 years ago. Anything out of my area, I rely on GPS.😁
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Post by myshelly on Mar 15, 2022 4:30:07 GMT
When I drive my kids’ friends around, I just say “what’s your address?” and put it in my GPS. No need to put the kids on the spot. A couple weeks ago, my DD’s friend needed a ride home from school when their after school club ended so I offered to take her. The kid got in the car and I asked her what her address was and she didn’t know. They’re in middle school. 😬 Thankfully she could tell me where to turn and where to go straight and I did get her home safely. Now THAT I think is a serious problem.
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Post by katlady on Mar 15, 2022 5:26:11 GMT
My dd told her once that the mile markers and the Exit numbers matched up . So if you see Mike marker 53, then Exit 56 is 3 miles away. I learned something new today! But then, as mentioned before, we don't use Exit numbers here to give directions. All our exits have street names, which is what we use.
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compeateropeator
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Post by compeateropeator on Mar 15, 2022 10:50:40 GMT
Well I will admit that I fall into this category a bit. I can give directions but I am terrible on street names, no matter how long I’ve lived somewhere.
Unfortunately my directions would be more like “Remember where John Smith use to live? Take that road till you come to the intersection where If you go to the left you go toward the school. Take that right and…”. I am sure you get the point. 😄
But I do not have a garmen or use an app on my phone and I can read a map and have a state atlas in my car. 🤷♀️ I haven’t read the other posts yet, off to see what people are saying. 😉
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compeateropeator
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Post by compeateropeator on Mar 15, 2022 11:04:04 GMT
My dd told her once that the mile markers and the Exit numbers matched up . So if you see Mike marker 53, then Exit 56 is 3 miles away. I learned something new today! But then, as mentioned before, we don't use Exit numbers here to give directions. All our exits have street names, which is what we use. This is not true on our interstate. If that were the case you would have to have an exit every mile or skip exit numbers. The mile markers start at the beginning of the road and are every mile so that people can identify where they are on the highway. Our exits start at 1 and go up. For example here are some of our exits and mile markers on I-89: Exit 17, Colchester - Mile 97 Exit 16, Colchester - Mile 91 Exit 15, Winooski - Mile 90 Exit 14, Burlington - Mile 88 Exit 13, Shelburne - Mile 87
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maryannscraps
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Post by maryannscraps on Mar 15, 2022 13:20:49 GMT
I think as you note that kids now just rely on their phones or GPS, which is why they can't give directions. It is weird, but, then, I realize I now do not know exit numbers from highways because I, too, rely on my phone. In the last year or so, Massachusetts changed the exit numbers on the major highways to match up with distances. LOL, it messed up so many people. I always relied on names, so it didn't bother me. One of my kids has a great sense of direction and how to get places, and one doesn't. They both used technology pretty similarly, so I'm not going to blame that.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Mar 15, 2022 14:33:22 GMT
I was just thinking of this on the weekend! My son could direct someone to our house once we were in our suburb. But I noticed when we started driving lessons with him, that he had no clue whether to turn left or right onto the highway to get to the shopping centre where he's been a gazillion times. I think you're right, a lot of it has to do with them having their heads down looking at phones whenever they are in the car. There is another issue that DSO and I think is a reason they can't find their way around. When we were kids, we walked or rode our bikes everywhere. If we wanted to go to the shopping centre, we had to walk. We walked to our friends' houses, we walked to our part time jobs, we walked to school. We knew the streets in our neighbourhood and the next suburbs like the back of our hands. My kids got driven everywhere (most of the time). Yeah, I think that yes, I agree with everyone in this thread there are many people are are not good at directions in general...but like you said, THIS is a whole other level. We used to bike everywhere, we walked to our friends, yes! and yes! We knew our town. Now I think its far worse.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Mar 15, 2022 14:34:35 GMT
I know street names but I don't know exit numbers and never have. I take the Glisan exit in Portland at least once a week and I couldn't tell you the number if my life depended on it. I also don't know the exit number that you take to get to our home. This has been true as long as I've been driving. I don't really know anyone who gives directions by the number of freeway exits, rather than names. Here in SoCal, there are exit numbers, but no one uses them. Some times my iPhone will give me the exit number. T hanks, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. 😂 lol right? Who in SoCal uses exit numbers? I remember a while back getting irritated with the GPS giving me numbers.
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oh yvonne
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Post by oh yvonne on Mar 15, 2022 14:38:13 GMT
When I drive my kids’ friends around, I just say “what’s your address?” and put it in my GPS. No need to put the kids on the spot. you make it sound like I did it intentionally. Now I ask, but its not always practical when I've got a car full of them. Whose do I GPS first? What if its on the opposite end of town and the other friend is the very next freeway exit?
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Post by lisacharlotte on Mar 15, 2022 14:42:37 GMT
I’m the driver in my family. When we would move to a new city, DH could get from home to work, but I was the new city explorer. As technology advances we have in car nav, smartphones, and a Rand McNally in the seat back pocket.
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Post by padresfan619 on Mar 15, 2022 17:30:55 GMT
I was just thinking of this on the weekend! My son could direct someone to our house once we were in our suburb. But I noticed when we started driving lessons with him, that he had no clue whether to turn left or right onto the highway to get to the shopping centre where he's been a gazillion times. I think you're right, a lot of it has to do with them having their heads down looking at phones whenever they are in the car. There is another issue that DSO and I think is a reason they can't find their way around. When we were kids, we walked or rode our bikes everywhere. If we wanted to go to the shopping centre, we had to walk. We walked to our friends' houses, we walked to our part time jobs, we walked to school. We knew the streets in our neighbourhood and the next suburbs like the back of our hands. My kids got driven everywhere (most of the time). Yeah, I think that yes, I agree with everyone in this thread there are many people are are not good at directions in general...but like you said, THIS is a whole other level. We used to bike everywhere, we walked to our friends, yes! and yes! We knew our town. Now I think its far worse. Kids today aren’t really allowed to ride their bikes around town or walk everywhere without an adult. I was babysitting my 8 year old niece and tried to send her out in my locked and gated backyard to play while I was trying to put my son down for a nap and she looked at me like I was crazy. Kids are under constant supervision now. Our neighborhood has lots of kids and I only ever see them walking to and from school, and always with a parent or caregiver.
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