"Why Waze is like a Well meaning Parent..."

"Why Waze is like a Well meaning Parent..."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

I recently used the traffic App called Waze and was amazed at the amount of time that I saved going to and from work if I followed it's directions. 

I found myself entering side streets , places that were too vacant to be true because you would see all the red around you(indicating heavy traffic) and yet here you were cruising at an easy pace. I found streets that lead to places that I have long suspected would lead there but neither had the time or the inclination to explore. Waze taught me a lot in a span of weeks and I plan on using it till I can no longer use it.

One of the things I have realized is that Waze is like a well meaning parent. Like parents they set off a path for you that might necessarily be easy but it is probably the most efficient path for your success and so they set you on that path. Like a parent if you stray from that path Waze will try to correct you on that path until you reach a point where the app could no longer correct you and follow your path.

But there is something else here. I found that when using the app  , like a parent it See's things that you might not necessarily see like heavy traffic build up or accident prone places. Parents because they are older and more experienced are like that too. They know that if you go a certain way then it leads to somewhere that might amount to disaster or an accident. 

It is still up to you to decide where your path leads. As in with Waze it will be up to you to pick the route with most efficient time for you or you could stubbornly trudge on in that Heavily Red road that the app was trying to steer you clear from. I never had a problem trusting my parents. I never had a problem trusting Waze. I hope that now that I am a parent I could set a path for my only daughter that she may or may not take but what I really hope is that I can be involved in the steps she takes wherever it leads her.