I’m starting to grow increasingly concerned by certain manufacturers’ apparent desire to put very complicated, delicate, expensive pieces of equipment in the hands of people who clearly lack the skills and competency to use them. I don’t like to berate people, but I do find it to be a sad state of affairs when I encounter fully grown adults who still, to this day, don’t know simple skills like how to navigate on a computer with a mouse.
Yes, everyone must learn sometime and we must all have patience for those who aren’t exposed to complex things like computers, yadda yadda, but the mouse has been commonplace in the computing landscape – nay, in the very cultural landscape of nearly every first- and second-world country – for almost 20 years now, when Apple made it standard equipment on their Macintosh computers. Even my parents, who are among the endanagered genus of the human species who still don’t have a computer in the house, are familiar with this concept and could probably muddle through pretty well if someone thrust a computer in front of them and told them to surf eBay.
So it is also true with cell phones. Yes, you know it’s true… some people have cell phones and don’t know how to use them. You encounter one every time you see someone standing still in the middle of a public spot, befuddled look on their face, trying to figure out how to make that newfangled contraption in their hands call Aunt Millie. And this lack of skill is just inexcusable. People, phones have been around since the late 1800s! the only difference now is there’s :GASP!: – no wire attached – and you might have to push an extra button or two to tell the phone you’re done dialing and it’s time to connect the call.
Well, for these poor folks, phones are alas, getting more complex, such that the phone-neanderthals among us are falling behind. New technology is coming, and phones are getting, well, smarter. And I’m sorry folks, but if you’re one of the people I’m talking about, it’s time to brush up on your tech skills!
Why am I ranting about this? Because, as I was casting away my previous “dumb” phone for one with a higher IQ, I had to read the instructions for a certain accessory that works with the new phone. And I was, well, dumbfounded and just a little insulted when diagrams like the following appeared:
Is this what we’ve come to? Turning Mr. Phone and Mr. Headset into happy cartoon characters that “bond” through the magic of Mr. HappyZap, the radio wave? Since when does simple English (“To start: press the “connect” button on your headset. Duh, you’re finished!”) no longer suffice?
I can just see this getting so much worse…
