Hang on - handwriting does not "rarely if ever go to good use". Does it?
Maybe it's because I don't own a printer, but if I couldn't use a pen I'd be completely stuffed.

I use it myself, out of habit, mostly because it feels better to write thoughts on paper, and it's easier to use the space on the page freely for that as well. Outside of those though, I can't remember the last time I've seen anything handwritten that wasn't small enough to fit on a sticky note.. And personally I have abandoned sticky notes for virtual ones, makes it easier to copy and paste stuff into more organized formats like todolists or calendar items.
This could just be my own experience though - I also prefer doing math in my head or on paper, but I'v'e seen people take out an app for calculating tips in restaurants...

You are right though, it is subjective. I am sure there are much better examples of skills that are no longer in common use but might still have value for child development... Somehow their escaping me atm.

edit; Ooh.. Does remembering things on your own count?

In truth, I probably write more than most people my age. I keep up a handwritten correspondence with people just for fun. And sometimes because I know how much more special it is to see an envelope on your doormat and know who it's from, rather than seeing it in your inbox. Case in point, my Mum's friend going through radiation treatment at present. I've sent her a card or a postcard every week, as I know she's low physically and emotionally, and can't make it out of the house some days. And yet she is internet savvy.

Maybe I just don't trust technology (or even electricity!) enough.
I have a hard-backed notebook with some important phone numbers and addresses in. I use it to write down appointments, shopping lists, workings out of what I need to pay and how much I'll have to pay it with, remind me of birthdays, things to tell Mum, questions to ask my support worker etc etc. I'm more likely to have it with me than I am my keys :facepalm:

I bashed up my phone the other week. It still works. But I worry that one day it will get grumpy about sharing my bag with various birdseed, books and bubbles and pack up completely. When I say back-up, I mean paper, baby.

The map is often only seen as an aid to getting from A to B, but it is more than that. It enables you to see, at a glance where you stand in the great geographical scheme of things.
Whether it is a world atlas, or a large scale local map it assists orientation and general awareness.
If I want to drive from A to B I can look at a map, see which towns I will pass or go through, how I can avoid congestion by bypassing places, see if hilly terrain with narrow roads can be avoided and a host of other information is there to provide an all round assessment of the journey.

Now, my experience of using car satnav is limited to say the least but, unless things have improved in the last few years, the A to B satnav assisted journey is a somewhat limited affair.
It's akin to being pushed about with an electric cattle prod until you get to your destination. Plug in two post codes and fill in the bit in the middle by obeying the orders.

Perhaps that’s all people want. Delegate the decision making and the tiresome business of thinking for yourself and consider it money well spent.

I do agree with you Carrutherstown in that a satnav gives you tunnel vision about your route and lacks all of the peripheral information which makes many a journey pleasurable but it also has its uses especially when feed with real time traffic information.
Our satnav gave us an interesting route from York to High Wycombe the other day almost totally excluding the M1 which was chock a block. It started in the A1 and then led us to lengthy tracts of the A46 to the M40. If never gave thought of that route and it was largely trouble free ...

Sent by thought transference

The greatest things about trips are the side trips. You know, you're driving down that A46, and there's the sign for Her Majesty's Royal Cactus Museum. Or, Snake Exhibit. Or, Madame Knowitall, Palm Reading Snake Dancer. Or, whatever.

I love the spontaneous side trip.

I have a degree in geography, I love paper maps.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Exactly...

Back when, I used to say that everyone should have to drive across the entire US, at least once.
Some of the best memories were the unexpected and unplanned sights, people, and places.

Back then, commercial flying was very customer-oriented
with various perks: comfortable seats, special meals, etc.
But even then there was so much lost in a 4-hr trip across the US.
And just look how much better things are now !

I can't believe there's much fun during the 45 minutes in the Chunnel.
... I'm sure it's because there's no chance for a spontaneous side-trip. :rolleyes:

I don’t have a degree in geography, but I do love paper maps.

A quick audit of same revealed the following:

2 x UK Road Atlases

4 x US Atlases of various scales and focus.

3 x USGS large scale maps of SE Wyoming

1 x World Atlas

12 (approx) x 1:25000 and 1:50000 local or semi-local maps. (Ordnance Survey)

1 x Photographic Atlas of England. Full aerial survey coverage of the country at the millenium.

1 x UK air navigation chart (VFR)

2 x UK air navigation charts (IFR)

There's probably some more somewhere!


Unique selling point of a paper map? The batteries never run down. ;)

I almost played devil's advocate for minute to point out that paper maps do not speak.

They do speak, volumes, in fact, just not out loud.

:)

Just got back from week's vacation in the National Forest. Had GPS. And a paper map. Latter was much more useful/used

There's a joke in their somewhere about having to go to the bathroom and not having any TP or big leaves around.

Huge fan of maps. I came of age in the military when we had acetate overlays and grease pencils. lol.

I saw a Tomtom street view camera car rolling through my neighborhood today. Didn't know Tomtom was collecting the info.

On our recent vacation in rural western Michigan, we had one incident where the GPS tried to guide us to our campsite down a tiny track you could maybe have got a Jeep down.

There were several instances where we would come to a four way junction on the GPS and there would be only 3 or 2 visible roads, the other direction was just a field.

Once we stopped trusting it entirely and used map in parallel it was OK