Just about every time a new piece of technology hits the streets, I get a little excited. I know I can’t afford every little gadget, but I like knowing that they exist.

Well, not always. Sometimes I hear about some new little electronic device, and I wonder who thought real people might need the item.

Lately, I have started to think that about these GPS devices that are popping up in all kinds of cars.

I don’t find this kind of technology useless. I’m sure sales people who have to visit a lot of new locations and food delivery services find GPS units pretty handy.

But putting these things in the hands of your average person is contributing to making us dumber as a people.

A friend works at a new location for her job. She recently got a phone call asking for directions. She tried to help the person, but they kept getting upset because the address for the new office wasn’t showing up in her GPS.

Never mind that my friend described every landmark near the building, which is located in a strip center you can see from the road. Never mind that she needed to make three turns, all involving major roads, to find the location. Never mind that my friend offered to stay on the phone and direct her.

She couldn’t possibly get from point A to point B without using her GPS. And she got indignant too, complaining that the office was in such a horrible location.

I don’t expect every person to have the navigational skills of Magellan, but why do people all of a sudden turn into Wrong Way Feldman when they get a GPS system?

I thought we had hit the limits of technology when you could get on the computer and figure out directions to anywhere by yourself. Now you can drag the route wherever you want because the computer is stupid and likes to take you from Hanover to Chambersburg whenever you go anywhere west.

Who are all these people all of a sudden needing directions to desolate, strange places at the drop of a hat. Don’t people who buy GPS systems have computers? Can’t they get directions before they leave the house?

Maybe I shouldn’t judge all GPS owners because this one woman suddenly couldn’t find her way through a large suburb of Baltimore without help from the little box on her dashboard.

I’m sure some people have really good reasons for having them. They probably don’t complain about every little thing – they just like the way GPS works.

I just worry that we will turn into total idiots if we can’t find directions on our own. What if people who think they need GPS for regular travel decide they need it around the house? Will we suddenly need to program a trip from the TV to the fridge into a computer?

The only way I can get behind this is if we combine GPS with robot servants because robots have a horrible sense of direction. I don’t need my robot butler getting lost with my chicken wings.