Is your tinfoil hat nearby? Some LQ members might enjoy reading this:
http://listverse.com/2013/10/23/10-w...-tricking-you/

I only use GPS when I first go somewhere, or when I may change my destination, or when there might be traffic and there is a chance to go around.

It only takes me a single drive to learn how to get somewhere, and I don't use GPS if I know how to get there.

If I don't have a GPS device with me, I'll just write the directions down ... which is what I did when GPS did not exist.

Well..nothing new tbh. Same old stuff like before. Each new improvement or innovation is treated as lame by previous generations. People just don't understand that knife can also be used to cut people not just bread so what? That doesn't mean we should prohibit them! We just need to teach and learn properly. Here is some article cut:
More: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ways-s...ngs-dumber_p2/

Long story short: It depends on individual if he|she relies on technolgy or technology is just assistance tool.

I have trouble taking this stuff seriously because of the heavy load of generation-tarring it usually comes with.

e.g. I've seen people claiming that young adults of my generation have attention spans of less than a minute. I don't see how such a claim can seriously be made about functioning human beings.

I'm not saying that electronic gadgets couldn't have detriments - rely too much on your "exocortex" and your cerebral cortex may suffer for it - but people need to recognize that a lot of this is heavily politicized. Older generations have found ways to dismiss the younger crowd for a long, long time, usually more due to fear of political and social change than anything deserved.

(And mind, I'll probably be just as curmudgeonly when I'm in my 60s. This dismissive inflexibility is very hard to overcome.)

Also:

- The "brain as a muscle" analogy sucks. If I made a tremendous effort to get really fit, I might eventually be able to run a 5-minute mile. But no matter how much I exercised my brain I could never become the next Ramanujan. It is simply not in my capacity. Brains are plastic, but not that plastic.

- I'm not convinced things have ever been hugely better. Most of the historical figures we remember were pretty exceptional people - not necessarily in terms of being decent human beings, but definitely in terms of drive and intelligence (and privilege).

Edit: also, contrary to the OP, I kind of wonder how much more someone like Tycho Brahe or Isaac Newton would have been able to discover with access to an arithmetic calculator.

And no matter how much you run, you could never become the next Usain Bolt. Same thing, no?

OK I'm 70 years old and I can not fathom how someone would hire a clerk in a store that can not do simple math in their heads. It is not supposed to be mind boggling to do simple adding or subtracting.
If the card I want to buy cost $2.67 and I give the clerk a $5.00 bill and two dimes; getting my $2.53 back in change should not require calling for the manager. I do not even know how to answer my cell phone because I leave it off until I need to make a call. Anyone who calls my cell number has to leave a message that I will deal with when I get home. Every day on public transportation people loudly discuss very personal matters over their cell phones without a care in the world! That is not my cup of tea. My computer ( and the Internet ) is the only gadget that I'm hopelessly addicted to thankfully!

Why work their brain when a downloaded app can do all their thinking for them, and faster too!
You don't even need a brain, just a stylus, or finger and your life is somehow "better".

I've seen store clerks hand me back change and not even count it back to me.
It's right there in front of them! Twice!!
Receipt and the cash register LED display.

Ask anyone who has a "smartphone"- "Call your Mother lately?"
The reply most likely will be "yes".
"Really? What's her phone number?"
<vacant_stare>

No Thanks.

@ntubski: I couldn't, but I think there's a much greater gap between Ramanujan and myself than between your average sprinter and Usain Bolt. Could be my massive intellectual bias though.

Re the OP and kids not learning math. We had calculators when I was a little kid... So the schools forbade us from using them for classwork. You have to learn to walk before you can learn to drive.

Doing math in your head as a clerk is useful, but there are some clever cons that can easily deceive them. One of them is overpaying when breaking a higher bill for change. There was a show on this and pretty much every clerk got fooled.

Maybe but you don't have to become blind yourself(either by accident or purpose) to understand how such people feel or live.

@Habitual, I don't have a smart phone. I do have a bunch of phone numbers written down and pinned to a bulletin board at home. The ones I don't call often, I generally don't recall unless I'm looking at them. Out of sight, out of mind.

(Funny aside: most of the numbers I have on my cell phone's speed dial are the ones I don't call often. The ones I call regularly, I just enter manually. Faster than voice commands, or mousing through a menu.)

Edit: actually there have been several cases when I have remembered a number after seeing it displayed in speed dial a few times. My guess is that your "smart phone users" were lying, not stupid.

I hadn't heard of Hypnogagia before, but I sure recognize it. Something very similar happens to me now and again, and it's never settling.

We build tools and use them because they make us more efficient.

Is it actually 'smart' that you can recall how many capitals are in a country or state, or the birthday of each of your friends and family? That seems like minutia better left for a tool (book, computer, post-it) to store while we think about more important things, like how to fix one of our broken tools or how to build the next one.

Tell it to people who want to drill in your mind that modern stuff makes humans clout. BS! For example just because person A drives automatic transmission car doesn't mean that person can't operate manual OR person B uses GPS they can't use paper maps etc. Why complicate life? I actually see it other way - if we don't use machines we are slaving ourselves even more when we use them too much because which is worst - not using technology and waste our life years doing almost nothing of importance or using it and enjoy life without doing dirty jobs? Once again key word is balance.

I still remember telephone numbers of my childhood friends' homes, 40 years later.
License plates on my parents' 2 cars from 45 years ago.
Arcane nailed it, balance.

I have met precisely zero other people of any age who professed to having such a good memory for details. No offense, but I'm going to guess you have a knack for that, rather than it being an indication that my memory isn't so great.

Re "balance," I would say that is simplistic. Rather I think we should be looking into what technology to really invest in. Computer tech is revolutionary, but also very centralized and vulnerable. Over-reliance on it is bad.

Actually I will post another thread on that..