--- title: How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate description: How humans are forgetting how to navigate, choosing student loan repayment over 401Ks and more. canonical: https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-12T16:01:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:08.125Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 12, 2016 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 12, 2016 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**GPS and Google Maps are weakening our power to navigate.**](http://www.nature.com/news/technology-use-or-lose-our-navigation-skills-1.19632) By Roger McKinlay in Nature **2\.** [**Over a 401K match, younger employees choose student loan repayment help.**](http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/04/08/Hot-New-Employee-Benefit-Millennials-Are-Demanding) By Beth Braverman in the Fiscal Times **3\.** [**Should the U.S. walk away from the Middle East?**](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/middle-east-foreign-policy-afghanistan-unwinnable-213778) By Andrew Bacevich in Politico **4\.** [**Yes, a face-to-face conversation can reduce bigotry.**](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/talking-people-about-gay-and-transgender-issues-can-change-their-prejudices) By John Bohannon in Science **5\.** [**Police want to end distracted driving with the ‘textalyzer.’**](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/first-came-the-breathalyzer-now-meet-the-roadside-police-textalyzer/) By David Kravets in Ars Technica  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/"},"headline":"How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate","datePublished":"2016-04-12T16:01:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:08.125Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/","keywords":["Innovation","texting","Syria","Google Maps","Racism","Student Loans"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4290424/gps-weakens-navigation/","name":"How GPS Is Weakening Our Power to Navigate"}}]}] ```