The more I navigated using my phone, the more unsettled I felt. Was it robbing something from me?
In August this year I moved to Bristol. After spending most of my life living in villages or small towns, being constantly surrounded by the busyness of a city was a shock. Not owning a bike and not wanting to be reliant on Bristol’s very creaky bus system, I walked everywhere. Almost automatically I used Google Maps to help me. Whereas on a traditional paper map I would first have had to locate relevant landmarks and street names before positioning myself within the map’s landscape, the blue dot on my screen showed me exactly where I was. The procession of smaller blue dots stretching out to my destination revealed the fastest way to get there. I arrived at things mostly on time, and was very rarely lost.
However, the more I used Google Maps, the more unsettled I felt. I often find inspiration for my writing as I walk. That can come from things I notice as I go, or from the way that walking seems to get my brain to think in a way it doesn’t indoors. But this was not happening. Instead, I simply worried about not following the dotted line. Or in other words, getting lost.
Ned Vessey is a freelance writer, with a particular focus on landscape and place
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