We visited a beach on Chesapeake Bay. It was my daughter's request for our vacation. "I just want to go into the ocean."

I was not in charge of this adventure. My brothers led the group to this location. It was a nice beach, but didn't appear to have any public facilities. "Where do the kids go if they need to use the bathroom?" I asked one of them. He shrugged.

I had brought my smartphone with me, so I searched for businesses that might have public restrooms. There weren't many options.

As I walked around, letting the maps app lead the way, I arrived at a convenience store. "No public rest­rooms" said the sign on the front.

As I walked back to the beach, disappointed, I came upon two porta-potties. Where did these come from? I asked myself, until I realized that I had walked right passed them previously. I had missed them because I was immersed in the maps app, looking for something right in front of me.

How many times does something like this happen with digital connections in general? What opportunities do we miss when we are searching on line?