Navigation can definitely do the same thing. My wife uses Google maps everywhere she goes, even to get to her own job or friends' houses.

One time her phone died on her way back home from somewhere she doesn't go very often, and she was crying by the time she found her way home. At the time we lived in a big city surrounded by a ring of highways - all she needed to do was drive toward the skyline and she'd hit that ring, but since she never thinks about what direction she's going or where she needs to turn, the thought of making those decisions herself never entered her brain. Instead she stopped at a gas station, charged her phone for 30 minutes, and used navigation to get back.

I've never been much into using apps like that, but now I specifically avoid them, so that I can keep my own ability to think about those kinds of things.

I grew up with rotary phones, and I only knew about 2 numbers then. My notes about these numbers have just moved from a piece of paper pinned onto the wall.

At a demographic level, I am near certain you're right on the money. But you are not an interchangeable part, identical to all the others in your bin. Neither is anyone else.

There are people who can use these tools to enhance their abilities. That's how I use GPS navigation: to get me there the first time, and on trips to larger cities to avoid traffic. No amount of skill on my part is going to tell me that I need to turn onto a side street because there was an accident 10km further up the road.

So there's nuance here. We can possibly have our cake and eat it too.