I love my Mom to death, but one of the greatest challenges in life was teaching her how to use a computer. I understand that parents didn’t grow up with such technology, otherwise they’d be self-proclaimed experts. But explaining that this particular type of mouse doesn’t squeak or eat cheese proved to be a tougher task than I had ever imagined possible. Chronically, I would explain to her that the best way to learn how to operate the latest technology is to screw up. Yes, I said it, screw up. Just like driving in big cities for the first time, you might venture on a couple wrong-way streets, and even if you don’t come out unscathed, then hopefully you can still say you took something from the experience.
And now it’s time to give my Mom some credit; truth is, she’s a beast with computers now, as she fears nothing about them. In fact, a few months ago she cleaned her laptop keyboard with a vacuum cleaner hose (personally don’t reccomend it, but it did the trick for her). So not only can she perform risky methods of cleaning keyboards, but also has shown me a thing or two about random internet sites such as her favorite, Craig’s List. I’m proud that she ditched the hunt-and-peck typing method and learned how to e-mail me pictures of funny lookin’ dogs and cats. And although I’m confident she still has some laps to go before she catches up to me in the ‘technology-learning’ race, I must admit that even I’m scared.
Scared of what, you say? I’m terrified that technology is even surpassing my own capability to understand it. I should heed my own advice: Just play around with it and first screw up, you’ll learn. Oh, I hope so. But with technology such as blue-ray discs, SD cards, and trees full of Apple goodies flying in every direction, I must admit that i’m overwhelemed. With that said, I completely understand the general implications of a supply-and-demand concept: As consumers, we crave the latest and greatest products on the market.
This is not to say that we don’t deserve such advanced technology on the market. And I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but what good is a product when it takes a degree to learn how to operate it? I’m an intelligent person with a fair amount of common sense – so i’d like to believe that i’m not alone with my helplessness when dealing with the latest technology fads.
When reflecting on my unstable battle with technology, I keep in mind a few points:
1) Technology should continue to advance to the point where it no longer benefits a target population.
2) The complexity of today’s technologies is quite subjective. Just because I think its advancing too rapidly, doesn’t mean others don’t agree (which is why i’d like your input).
3) I have no problem learning the latest technologies. In fact, I love to learn new things, but then patience is compromised consequently becoming a double edged sword:
It comes down to this: Advanced Technology leads to efficiency which in return saves us time. But then we call for more time in order to learn that technology. Seems like a contradictory cycle to me.
What does everyone think about this?
Posted by mediamogul 