If smart phones disapeared how would you cope?

I think I'm one of about 6% of people who don't own a smart phone, my Mum dosen't either. I wonder how many people who do have smart phones actually know how to use them though? I've seen lots of confused people in carparks not knowing how to use a parking app, or how to download one, especially when you end up on an Irish network instead of a British one. I've seen people so fed up with app based parking that they turn round and go somewhere else, that must lead to a fair bit of lost business?

I still use a map, I prefer a map to a sat nav, sat navs are still a bit useless round here out in the boonies, post code area can be quite big and the sat navs can't cope, many can't cope with house names with no numbers, some of our little lanes are unnamed too. Not that I really go anywhere that requires a sat nav.

I did try and use the NHS app thingy, but the link didn't work, so I still use the phone and go and drop off repeat prescription forms in person. I have to be careful with the automated check in thingy in the surgery as once I crashed it and it hadn't registered that I was there and I waited about an hour before realising the doctor wasn't running late.

Obviously now things are so integrated that many things wouldn't work with out all the tech, but I do wonder how people would cope?

TheCatWoman said:

I still use a map, I prefer a map to a sat nav

It is illegal as a drive to be holding a map while driving or even waiting at traffic lights now (even eating an apple while driving has been made illegal) so you woud have to park up in order to be able to do this.

With sat nav and voice activation you can change the destintation etc much more safely while on the go.

TheCatWoman said:

post code area can be quite big and the sat navs can't cope

I've never had this issue before. You normally enter an address (eg 151 High Street, Cardiff) and it will literally take you to the door or show you parking failities nearby if you ask. If the house has a name then so long as it is in the Postal Address FIle with the Post Office then it will show when you enter the house name and postcode.

Even if that doesn't work in extreme situations then the map will not show you to any greater detail either, so it is of no more help than the satnav. In the sat nav you can at least zoom into the map, identify the shape of the building you think it is and "stick a pin" in it and navigate to it directly and with some accuracy.

On balance I would say maps are much worse as they are out of date as soon as they are printed, cannot adapt to changing traffic conditions and are not aware of things like road closures.

I threw all my road maps out about 20 years ago as I they were less than helpful.

TheCatWoman said:

I still use a map, I prefer a map to a sat nav

It is illegal as a drive to be holding a map while driving or even waiting at traffic lights now (even eating an apple while driving has been made illegal) so you woud have to park up in order to be able to do this.

With sat nav and voice activation you can change the destintation etc much more safely while on the go.

TheCatWoman said:

post code area can be quite big and the sat navs can't cope

I've never had this issue before. You normally enter an address (eg 151 High Street, Cardiff) and it will literally take you to the door or show you parking failities nearby if you ask. If the house has a name then so long as it is in the Postal Address FIle with the Post Office then it will show when you enter the house name and postcode.

Even if that doesn't work in extreme situations then the map will not show you to any greater detail either, so it is of no more help than the satnav. In the sat nav you can at least zoom into the map, identify the shape of the building you think it is and "stick a pin" in it and navigate to it directly and with some accuracy.

On balance I would say maps are much worse as they are out of date as soon as they are printed, cannot adapt to changing traffic conditions and are not aware of things like road closures.

I threw all my road maps out about 20 years ago as I they were less than helpful.

My brain would never manage this. I'm terrible with directions. I'd remember the first one and then be clueless.

Postcodes occasionally cause issues with sat navs e.g. taking you to the back entrance rather than the front. But I've never had an issue putting a specific address in. Even in real country side areas.

I plan my route on a map and can memorise it, if I was travelling a long distance then I'd memorise it in sections, when I stopped for a break. I nearly missed my sons wedding because of a road closure and the sat nav couldn't cope, we ended up n the wrong side of the county.

I actually like maps, especially old ones.

I regularly have to stand outside my house and wave at trades people or delivery drivers, my house is the first in our post code and the sat nav dosen't seem to recognise it and sends people to the other end of the street. This is much better than when I lived right out in the sticks as sat navs often either didn't know we existed at all and dumped people in the nearest village 3 miles away, or told them they'd reached their destination at the crossroads in our hamlet.

We also have a problem with some systems insisting we're in Gwynedd not Anglesey or using both, it makes it a nightmare filling in delivery detail online as they keep getting bounced back as not existing. Some form will have a menu of counties and they don't include Anglesey at all.