
To Improve Your Sense of Direction, Lose the Technology (2017) - Tomte
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/science/walking-directions-mobile-phone.html
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ddingus
This is really foreign to me. Direction has never really been a question.

I grew up rural. Direction, where north is, etc... got built in early. Long
hikes into the hills, canyons. By teen age years, most of us had the whole
place mapped.

Today, I still can catch myself orienting, picking up references. When I
travel abroad, I experience this massive orientation for a while, placing
everything new with reapect to that which is known.

As a very young person, direction was a part of memory. I can tell you which
direction all our houses faced and what was nearby.

Late 60's and early 70's were when those defining times happened. Maps made
immediate sense.

If I were to struggle with this today, losing the tech is one option, but
augmenting senses in the ways mentioned are likely to have better outcomes.

If you value these things, you want to grok, in the sense Heinlein meant. Make
it an intrinsic part of you, automatic.

One of my favorites is sitting in an airplane. Front seats are different from
kiddle and rear ones too. But, when I concentrate, I can feel the course
changes, look out the window, identify the center point of a turn...

I feel this is something, this direction awareness, almost all of us can
improve on. Worth it.

Seems to me apps can help here. Give people aural, haptic feedback and just
have them place their phone consistently.

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simonblack
Always be aware of where the Sun is: how high in the sky, and in which
direction.The Sun will always tell you where North (or South) is. It becomes
so ingrained that North is always automatically known.

Yes some days are cloudier than others, but the direction of the brightest
light can be ascertained at many times during the day. Do the same at night
with a few favorite stars/constellations.

NOTE: The directions below are for the Southern Hemisphere, adjust accordingly
for the Northern Hemisphere.

In the morning the Sun will lie east (right) of North and be lower in the sky.

At midday, the Sun will be high in the sky and more or less directly North.

In the afternoon the Sun will be west (left) of North and lower in the sky.

