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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and for our last 15 minutes today we're going to talk about technology in another way. We're going to open the phones for your stories of getting lost without GPS or other technology that you can't live without, and what happened when you had to live without it. Tweet @BrianLehrer or give us a call, 212-433-WNYC, Who has a story? This is inspired in part by someone we know who was recently driving back to work in their office after a long time of working at home. They did not have GPS that day and they got lost.

We're inviting your stories of getting lost without GPS or other technology that you can't live without, and what happened when you had to live without it after becoming dependent on it? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. Now, this might be especially relevant for some of you who remember a time before GPS and had directions to places scribbled on a page, "Make a left at the second Hess station. The one with the red brick house, just before you get to it."

Are you nostalgic for that? No, but certain tools have enmeshed themselves into our lives so well that it's almost like you don't know how to go about your day-to-day without them. For you callers, does that bring to mind a certain device or a certain app? If so, tell us your story of getting lost without GPS or other technology that you can't live without, and what happened when you suddenly had to live without it again. 212-433-9692.

Were you surprised to have to use a GPS to remember the best route to work, or maybe to your favorite music venue or friend's house or any place you used to go to all the time in person pre-pandemic? Are you having trouble orienting yourself because we haven't been going out that much for a few years, or have you recently been stuck in a new part of town with a dead cell phone looking for directions? How were you able to get around?

Other technologies we've become dependent on also show up in cars a lot. If you've bought a new one lately, maybe you've really grown used to all the extra safety and convenience features like a backup camera, or those noises that indicate you're too close to the vehicle ahead of you or to veering into the next lane. Have you then tried driving a car that doesn't have those electronic guardrails and felt a little exposed? What was that like?

Maybe it's your apartment building has packages stolen sometimes and you got one of those doorbell surveillance cameras to ward off the thieves. Now you can see anyone who buzzes your apartment from the lobby entrance. Maybe you're a parent and you have a high-tech baby monitor. Any story like that? Tell us a story about a piece of technology that you've become dependent on and what happened when you suddenly didn't have it one day. 212-433-WNYC. We'll take those stories after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your stories of getting lost without GPS or other technology that you can't live with, and what happened when you had to suddenly live without it again. Naomi in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Naomi.

Naomi: Hi, Brian. A few years ago I was driving with a friend to get out of Manhattan to go to Pennsylvania and she was relying on GPS. We got out of the Holland tunnel and got stuck under the 1-9 interchange. We were underneath the bridge, GPS couldn't figure out where we were, and we were going all over Jersey City or wherever that was endlessly. I told my friend, "Get off GPS. It's not helping you." She loved technology and we kept getting lost. I said, "Get on a map." That's what happened to us.

Brian Lehrer: That's what happened to you. Naomi, thank you very much. Jen in Morristown, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jen.

Jen: Hi. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Tell us your story.

Jen: I was dropping a friend off in Bernardsville, New Jersey, which is one of those towns in New Jersey that even though it's like five miles of civilization, it feels like you're in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere. My phone died after I dropped her off, and I couldn't figure out how to get back to the highway. I was just driving past these big mansions. I mean they were tons and tons of acres. Finally, I pulled over on one of those big round driveways and walked up to the mansion, rang the doorbell, and said, "How do I get back to 287?" They gave me the directions. I was going the wrong way.

Brian Lehrer: What? A human being? You mean the GPS actually got it wrong?

Jen: Well, no. My phone had died. I was just [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Oh, your phone died. Sorry, I see. How did that feel to make contact with a human being again for directions?

Jen: Well, she was in the middle of putting her kids to bed so I felt bad for interrupting her, but when she found out that I wasn't there to sell anything, I was just asking for directions, she's very happy to draw me a map.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Thank you very much, Jen. I appreciate it. My producer, Mary, writes a note that in Ireland they always give directions based on pubs. Ha, I've heard that before from an Irish friend. I wonder if that's lost now with GPS. Pubs and churches, she says, in the case of Ireland. Jasper in Westport, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jasper.

Jasper: Hey, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. This is pretty funny. I was in a gas station a couple months ago and a man came in. He was probably like in his early 80s. He had a printed-out piece of paper with directions on it, and he was asking around like, "Oh, do how to get to this park over here?" Everyone in the store, I think the oldest person other than him was probably in their 40s, and everyone was looking at him like just complete shock.

I haven't seen someone do that since I was a kid. I'm 21 and GPS has been pretty ubiquitous my whole life, so it was pretty surprising and I was inspired by that. Since then I've been trying to use my phone as little as possible for directions. I recently had to pick someone up at the airport and I forced myself to go the whole way, which was risky. It's a bit of a fun little exercise in using the road signs because they're there for a reason.

Brian Lehrer: That is cool, Jasper. Thank you very much. By the way, folks, have you heard the news that yellow cabs will now be part of Uber? We talked about it briefly on the show last week. Maybe you're a yellow cab driver who used to drive around without a GPS and you've been in a place where GPS didn't work and something happened. Cabbies, as I understand it, have had such an indignity compared to Uber drivers. Not allowed to use GPS for directions while they had to have GPS turned on so their fleet bases could track them. Maybe that's going to go away now if those two fleets are blending, I don't know, but that's been a weird difference that I've noticed as an occasional passenger.

You get in an Uber they're using GPS. You don't have to think about giving them directions if there's somewhere where you're going for the first time, let's say. The yellow cabs, you have to figure it out together with the driver because they're not allowed to use GPS. At least they weren't for a long time. Maybe that's now changing. All right. Joan in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joan.

Joan: Oh, hi. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I hear you.

Joan: Oh great. I'm in my car, so this is even more technically amazing. My story is that I have a job where I have to drive all over the five boroughs visiting schools. I've been at this job for like 13 years, so I've been through every stage of technology. First, my colleague would have a hands-drawn map and she was an amazing direction giver. I gave her the title director of driving as well as whatever else she does.

Then we had GPSs that were mounted on the hood and those were good, and then we had the phone. Once I had the phone I didn't need to have her in the car with me anymore. However, the cars that I was driving originally did not have plugs for phones. One time I went out deep into Queens. My phone was quickly running out of gas because the map app takes up so much battery.

Then I was out there and the phone died. I had no idea where I was and how I even got there because I was on automatic pilot. I had to just drive around until I recognized something, but ever since then, I have so appreciated an actual map. I feel like you need to have it as a backup just in case. [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: I love your description of Queens as some kind of wilderness area. "Deep into Queens."

Joan: Oh, totally. Deep is like 42nd Street road, 42nd Street, 42nd Street avenue. It's makes no sense that [crosstalk].

Brian Lehrer: Yes, I grew up deep into Queens. Joan, thank you very much. I hear some tweets coming in on this. Let's see. Morgan on Twitter writes, "My phone was broken for a week and making plans with friends was a totally new experience. Had to tell them to meet me on a specific corner within 15 minutes of a certain time as there was no way to coordinate after leaving home." There are generations of listeners who always used to do that.

Beth on Twitter writes, "During the beginning of lockdown in 2020, we spent the first six weeks in the western Catskills. When the kids were done with school I would take them for long drives with just a map, no GPS, to guide us. Discovered so much and saw so many eagles." I don't know if the lack of GPS led to the eagles but that's a good story.

Let's see. Vee Marie on Twitter has a different line. They write, "I can't make my pizza stromboli dough without my bread machine." Ha. There's a piece of technology that I guess people didn't always have. Let's see one more GPS story before we run out of time. Becky in Bloomfield, you're on WNYC. Hi, Becky.

Becky: Hi. My story starts in the Finger Lakes of New York, and we're going to meet family in the Adirondacks. We get to the southern part of the Adirondacks around Rome, New York. We decide to stop for lunch. Then my husband says, "Let's take a little more scenic route." We try to change up our GPS, this is through our Google Maps on our phone, we head into the Adirondacks on a pretty road, kind of a highway, and then all of a sudden we lose service. There's no cell service in the Adirondacks.

We dig out a Garmin that we had from several years ago, maybe 10 years ago, 12 years ago. We tried to plug it in the Garmin, the Garmin said we have 45 minutes left to go to our site. We knew it was three hours so we thought, "Oh, this must be a real shortcut. Let's go for it." Before you knew it, we ended up on a smaller road and a smaller road, and then a dirt road, and I said "This is not it. We're headed to North Creek way over in the eastern part of the Adirondacks. This is not where we need to be."

Brian Lehrer: You had the wrong location.

Becky: Yes. We had to go in, like one of your previous callers did, and go in and talk to a human being, which was the greatest thing. We met a wonderful person [laughs]

Brian Lehrer: Becky, thank you for a wonderful story to end this call. Listeners, thanks for your stories of what happened when you suddenly didn't have the technology. Breadmaking, well, for most of you GPS, when suddenly you didn't have it after becoming dependent. That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, and Carl Boisrond. Our interns this spring semester are Anna Conkling, Gigi Steckel, and Diego Munhoz. Have a great rest of the day. I'm Brian Lehrer. Juliana Fonda was at the audio controls.

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