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Untrust in tech-born people
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2006
Nov 20
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Comments
3
During some “down time” I was flipping through Revolution in the Valley looking at pictures and reading some select passages. The book discusses the history of Apple computer and looks at various aspects throughout the 1980s. Cited in the book are magazines from the era that declare the age of the computer and so on and so on… This is just over 20 years ago.
We all have computers, or at least use computers on what is probably a daily basis. No one can argue the impact of the personal computer on the world and society at large, but a trip to Urgent Care had me kind of baffled.
There were three nurses on-duty in the front office. When I arrived they were all chatting about Christmas gifts and sharing which web sites have the best coupons. They were all talking about which video game system they were going to try and get their hands on for their kids. I was listening in to their conversation while I was waiting and boy did they have problems:
“Why isn’t this printing?”
“What’s a PDF?”
“Why is this 37 pages?”
“What is a ‘dot net’”
“Why is this going so slow?!”
Now these ladies were not old nurses. I’d guess they were maybe 30 years old or so. I obviously don’t know their work schedules, but logic would suggest they probably work the same shift everyday. So here are three women that use computers all day long - for important things like finding sale ads - and they are still befuddled by common computer puzzles.
These women probably grew up with computers much like I did. Now I know not everyone is a nerd such as I or my regular readers, but you can’t avoid using a computer in any work environment, it is a requirement. With such experience necessary, why are questions such as theirs still popping up?
That might sound stupid, as I have to deal with non-tech savvy people everyday, but most of the people I have to support are “above” the tech-born generation - so I cut them some slack.
Is technology still that scary and intimidating?
And if so, I wonder what it takes to build trust. I believe firmly that a top quality user experience (read user-friendliness) leads to trust and confidence when using technology. But even that (apparently) only goes so far. It amazes me how people seem to lose the ability to learn from frequent experiences when faced with technology. Surely the nurses at UC have experienced their slow printer before…and a PDF…I wouldn’t believe them if they told me otherwise. So if you experience a slow printer once before, then why wouldn’t you expect it the next time? …and the next time… I make some assumptions with this case, but I think they are safe ones.
Now that I have witnessed this in a place other than my home and my work, I am wondering what technology still scares people? Which ones do not? …and why?
Your thoughts…?
Why did you have to go to UC? Are you OK?
G+
I had to go to Urgent Care on Sunday. I am OK though. I woke up perfectly fine on Sunday morning then about an hour later I was in terrible pain. I just have a really bad bladder infection and stomach inflamation. We spent more time filling out paper work than I did with the doctor!
The technology…I think in an office situation, especially when you have a patient who is crying in pain, the slow printer is just more annoying because you are so aware that the customer/client/patient is getting irritated.
Technology is scary when you think you might break something. If you’ve tried to fix the printer in the past but made it worse, you’re not going to be likely to try it again.
Working these past few months in an institution of higher learning and with the general public in technology driven retail I am not suprised by the nurses. Take people who have the Dr. in front of their names. I keep finding that they have trouble with anything tech related. The best one being one of the Dr’s seeing the power symbol on a laptop and telling me in the “I know SO much more than you” voice only people with to much expensive paper can manage “Thats the mac laptop I need the PC laptop.”
I am also frequently told somthing is not working and when I go and check it out its as simple as turning the volume up on the proper device. Although here it is more of a “I’m to important to know how things work and to even try to fix them” attitude.
I think the underlying cause of most peoples inability to cope with technology issues is the fact that to them technology is just an expected tool. People expect the tool to work when they need it. You don’t have to understand how a hammer is made and the physics behind it to use a hammer. Computers are just a tool to them and when something goes haywire they don’t have an interest or an understanding of how to fix it. They just want it to work.