I have recently acquired some new gadgets so, in order to operate them properly, I have had to resort to actually reading the owners manuals and then applying what I have learned. If I ever thought that devices would become totally intuitive, that I would ‘just know’ which button(s) to push and why, I gave up thinking that long ago.
So I take time to figure out how to run the program or process and right now I'm at the point with my latest toy that I have to continuously go back to the owner's manual in order to get what I don't get but thought I got when I read it the third time. "This is soooo enlightening!" I then cry, with great relief, for I then discover how to edit/store/crop/save/delete/etc.
The amazing thing about tech is how the builders of devices have managed to hide the operating toolbars and menus and have left us with a mainly uncluttered screen which is very nice to look at but when it comes to any navigation within the system it's always "I wanna change this setting/function! 'Zactly how do I do that again?"
Why it's easy! Just swipe down, to the left, or right, double click/tap, press and hold, pinch to zoom, reverse to expand, drag three fingers to pan and where is that toolbar again? Or, what do these icons mean, in the upper right? I gotta get back to the menu.....
Techies write things in code. Tell me about it!
Nesa-by-makers Unsplash.com
My modus operandi is I learn just enough to get by, and bypass all the other information- which might be very helpful were I to learn it- but the problem with that is if I do, the tech guys upgrade the system, like they've done on I-Tunes numerous times, and all that I have learned has to be learned again! I am tasked with having to learn how to navigate upgraded systems in addition to having to learn how to navigate within new devices and apps.
Meanwhile, time is wasting and I want to get the device to do what I bought it for or the app to do what I loaded it for and so my life at times is spent learning how to navigate all these various systems and I just don't have the patience for that, though my partner does.
Relying on her to solve these tech issues doesn't help though, for approaching the issue that way leads only to a sense of pained helplessness and naked vulnerability for is she's not around, and I haven't yet learned how to navigate, I'm stuck staring at the screen without a clue. Not a good place to be (and just forget about me calling customer support/chat!).
So like it or not, learning the program, getting around in the app, configuring the layout on the website, converting the file, and all that other stuff calls for applying oneself and that doesn't happen intuitively, that comes only through hands on. You must read the owners manual and it's painful and hurts your head almost because every step is spelled out in excruciating detail in order that you get from A to B the first time. But, after that, you gleefully throw the manual away because you know (this is what I think of when I hear the word ‘intuitive’) how to get there. You can forget about all the jargon and just do it.
Twenty somethings and younger kids were born into this technology but us elders learned a far different operating system and have had to relearn or unlearn a lot of stuff in order to acclimatize to the swipe/tap/press and hold world. Give us a break already!
But no, although the promise of intuitive navigation has been dangled before us ever since tech arrived not yet has any of this become intuitive to me. In desperation I have at times employed my intuition in order to think out of the box the techies have trapped me in. I have resorted to trying to feel my way around.
Whatever. Whatever works! I don't care! Yo, tech bros, I got a full time job and SportsCenter is gonna show the Top Ten plays of the day here in a minute. Do you actually think I have time to read a dozen owners manuals and figure out what you changed after the latest upgrade?