In the early 2000s I got my first GPS device. To be clear it was not one of those small, cute GPS units that attached to the windshield with a suction cup. It was a device that connected to a laptop with a serial cable (this was pre-USB). The maps were stored on a CD-ROM. I balanced my laptop on my truck’s center console and used a power inverter to power the whole mess. And while it worked, I knew at the time that it was a bit of a Frankenstein solution. I had the same feeling when I took my first road trip after buying an iPod and used one of those FM transmitters to play mp3s on my truck’s stereo. It felt like things were close, but not quite there.
We’ve had smartphones for a long time. My iPhone replaced my iPod and my GPS and my Palm Pilot and my digital camera and a whole bunch of gadgets. It changed everything. Before going on a road trip, we used to sit down with an atlas and plan our route. I used to spend an hour picking out my favorite 48 CDs for a trip. I remember the first time I left for a road trip and just relied on my GPS to get me there. The thought of looking at a paper map feels like something from the stone age now. None of our cars even have CD players anymore.
And while again none of this is breaking headline news, with phones we are never “away” away. The first road trip Susan and I took together, we had to pump quarters into payphones to call home and check in. Now, whichever of us is in the passenger seat is on our phone — texting, calling, checking email, posting on social media… electronically, it’s the same as if we were still home. When I was a kid, video phone calls were a thing of the future and now I get them by accident when someone sits on their phone the wrong way.
What really struck me over the past two days is that we now have unlimited access to the internet in the car. My old wallet full of road trip CDs became Spotify. Access to any album we can think of. As Susan drove I flipped between social media, email, Google News, and other apps.
Just a few years ago, I remember searching iHeartRadio for radio stations carrying OKC Thunder games, so I could listen in real time. Today, I watched two NFL games in the car. Live. Like, while Susan drove, I watched NFL games. And when we stopped for gas and food I paused the game, and when we returned to the car I fast forwarded through commercials and halftime to get caught back up to the live stream. It’s weird. It’s all weird.
As a kid I used to dream about taking our computer with us in the car. I used to dream of watching television in the car, and having some magical device to give me directions. A lot of the things we have now, I never imagined. And as far as car entertainment and access goes… I can’t think of anything else I want. There’s nothing I have access to at home that I can’t access while barreling down the interstate at 75mph.