Smartphone? I think not.

I am someone that gets lost very easily. I try to counter this weakness by becoming familiar with a city and knowing the ins and outs of it. I mainly do this by using the GPS on my phone. In the early stages of getting to know a city, I am very reliant on my GPS. For example, when I came to Union College as a high school student, I had no clue where anything was. But little did I know, that was the least of my worries.  

I had just turned 16 and could finally drive by myself. However, on this day, my phone had died, which meant no GPS. I was with my cousins and asked if I could use one of their phones. They gladly offered it to me, and I searched through the phone to find the maps app. I swiped again and again. I started to get frustrated. I couldn't find the map app on the phone! I somehow managed to find the search bar, found “Google Maps,” and entered my new friend's address. 

After driving about a half hour, I peered out the windows and noticed that I had somehow gone from suburb Lincoln, Nebraska, to country Nebraska. As we got closer, I heard the phone say, "Turn right in 500 feet." I slowed down and looked at the phone in deep confusion. I was completely in the middle of nowhere on a slightly paved road in the middle of Southeast Nebraska, lost. I looked at the phone again and said, "I have faith in you." But at this point, there was no faith to be had in this piece of technology. This so-called "smartphone" was at the end of its namesake.

I looked back up at the road and gently put my foot on the gas. The phone said to turn right in 200 feet, 150 feet, 100 feet, 50 feet ... I put on the brakes and spun my steering wheel to the right, but when I looked up mid-turn, all I saw was green. No, it was not a giant interstate sign or even the color of my friend's house. It was the only thing I had seen for the past 20 minutes: CORN! I will never put my faith in technology over a handheld map ever again! That taught me never to call our handheld computers a "smartphone" ever again.

By Gabriel Sanders