I am like you. I grew up without screens, and grew up spending a lot of time in car trips. I remember distinctly being keenly aware of my surroundings out the w

I am like you. I grew up without screens, and grew up spending a lot of time in car trips. I remember distinctly being keenly aware of my surroundings out the window, and playing games with my parents on how many exits I had left before we got off the highway. In amusement parks, I was charged with the map and navigating to the next ride (a six year old!). Now, whenever I travel to a new place, I at the very least make sure to track the journey there so I can, by memory, journey back the same way. I make note of any distinct landmarks along my route, and pay attention to the logic of the local connecting roads, in case I must detour. I then compare that against any heuristics I have about city planning and my initial preview of the area on a map. The trick is that this is all rather effortless and intuitive, if not instinctual. I wonder if my habits as a child, and my parents’ reinforcements of said habits, made it so.