The Monocle Minute

I recently took a work trip to Sussex in southern England. I hadn’t had a chance to check how to get there and just hopped in my colleague’s car. She typed the address into her smartphone, which she slipped into a holder on the dashboard, and off we went. When I wasn’t following the blue dot on the screen, I felt as though I was in a foreign land. This is not how I normally travel. I am one of the few remaining smartphone refuseniks; my phone is a brick. When I drive, I consult the road atlas. When I’m out on my bike, I tap on the windows of cabs waiting at red lights and ask for directions. I also ask bus drivers where to get off. These human interactions now feel very countercultural. The disorientation that I felt on my way to Sussex is now what most people experience when they travel – unaware of where they are going and in which direction.

I am mindful of my increasing eccentricity but I believe that not having a sense of where we are is profoundly disempowering. It means that we walk blindly down a dark corridor, guided only by technology corporations with dubious motives. Several studies have shown that relying on “egocentric navigation” (or turn-by-turn instructions) rather than paper maps is eroding our navigational ability; it’s a “use it or lose it” skill. Satellite navigation is improving all the time and rarely lets us down. When it does, though, the consequences can feel catastrophic.

Replacing paper maps with phones feels like progress but is it actually a step backwards? If we give up our sense of direction, we forfeit agency and control. We might feel liberated but we lack the freedom to explore what lies between A and B. Worst of all, we lose context. That loss is part of a more general disorientation. Children no longer appear to be taught about countries and capitals. History, for them, is a series of unconnected events; music is a playlist of singles, detached from any discernible movement or era. Digital technology is rendering us both tethered and unmoored. We lose the big picture at our peril.

Eliane Glaser is a writer, lecturer, radio producer, broadcaster and author whose books include ‘Elitism: A Progressive Defence’. A longer version of this piece features in Monocle’sSeptember issue, which is out now. For more opinion, analysis and insight,subscribeto Monocle today.

Ikea is venturing into the secondhand furniture market with resale platform Ikea Preowned, which will be piloted in Madrid and Oslo until the end of 2024. The Dutch-headquartered Swedish company launched a buy-back scheme in 2021, giving customers the chance to return their old furniture in exchange for money. Ikea Preowned, however, will allow customers to sell vintage pieces directly to others.

Given the popularity of some of these items, such as the original Tajt chairs from the 1970s, Ikea’s entry into this sector is unsurprising. The initiative will not only contribute towards the company’s goal of becoming a fully circular business by 2030 but also provide it with valuable consumer insights. Though the pilot programme is free of charge, Jesper Brodin, CEO of the Ingka Group – the holding company that operates more than 480 Ikea stores and planning studios – hasn’t ruled out a “humble fee” for listings in the future.

More than 100 galleries from across the globe will be gathering in South Korea next week for Frieze Seoul. The art fair’s third iteration will feature not only an impressive list of solo, group and curated shows but also a new live programme. This year’s event will extend beyond the grounds of the fair proper, with folk music and dances in courtyards, films on view at Ewha Womans University and late-night gallery events across Seoul.

If you prefer paintings to performance art, don’t miss the six new works by US artist Honor Titus on display at Timothy Taylor and new pieces by Japanese painter Kohei Yamada at Taka Ishii Gallery. If you’re making the journey, we suggest taking trips outside the capital to Busan and Gwangju too, which are playing host to concurrent biennials.

The Bournemouth Air Festival, one of the UK’s largest air shows, opened this week with thousands expected to attend. Despite the crowds, there’s uncertainty surrounding the publicly funded event’s future: Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council have announced that it will not support next year’s iteration and the search for a new operator is ongoing.

Meanwhile, the festival’s regular main attraction, the UK’s Red Arrows, won’t be appearing because the team is on tour in Canada. So it falls on the RAF Typhoons, the Swedish Air Force and the Red Devils army parachute display team to prove that grounding the event is a mistake.

Inside Monocle’s September issue, you’ll learn how Brussels eased out the automobile with a radical mobility plan called Good Move, and meet the movers and shakers in commercial aviation. So hop on your bike or the nearest light rail to pick up Monocle’s latest issue today.