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And before that people knew how to track animals and locate edible plants, etc. etc. I understand you point: things change and skill sets change with them. I'm just saying that there are a growing number of people whose abilities are highly dependent on instant-gratification type technologies and (I presume) aren't learning how to put in a greater effort on things. Think about students trying to learn about something like economics who can just use Wikipedia and google and end up with a very brief, topical understanding to it. Not saying that technology itself is to blame because it can be very useful, but it makes it easier to become complacent or distracted and I think it reinforces people having lower attention spans.To be fair though, take someone from 20 years ago and ask them to read where they're going using the stars. It was a common method of navigation a long time ago, but even given all the tools, adults nowadays probably wouldn't be able to do it without a lot of coaching. Is that a bad thing? Is it as bad as not being able to read a paper map without help?
I'm not so sure that would even be true though, because Google Maps uses directions as well, and it looks a lot like a paper map. It would be a pain, yeah, but I don't think anyone would be unable to figure it out. What's the difference?