It’s Not A Car

People forget things.  They expect too much. And they don’t realize: this is a new technology.  This isn’t something that’s been around for ‘awhile’.  Comparatively speaking, it’s the new comer on the block.

What I’m talking about here is the “Digital Age” – the age of computers, cellphones, and other so-called ‘smart devices’.

How long have cars been around?  A little over a hundred years?  Telephones? Airplanes?  And yet some of them still crash, break down, have problems.  So why is it that people think computers should be immune to this sort of thing.

Like I tell my students (I teach and tutor sometimes) – “How long did it take you to learn to drive a car?  Now think about it.”  And the fact is: it took a long time though you may not realize it: learning what all the street signs mean (which means you had to learn to read them first), what side of the road to drive on (you learned that one as a small child).  How to operate the gears; turn the wheel, make adjustments to your seat (some folks are still trying to get the hang of that one).  What makes you think learning to ‘drive’ a computer is going to be any different?

Indeed, what makes you think it’s gonna be like driving a car at all?

People buy these home computers, bring them home, turn them on – and then they’re lost.  Then they get pissed off because “it” won’t do what they want it to do.  They don’t seem to realize they are dealing with a machine with millions of switches – and if just a single one is thrown wrong, the whole system gets out of sorts.

My mom.  She has said (and get this: she MEANS this): the computer should be able to read her mind, anticipate her actions, and know what to do before she gets there.

NO computer that I know of can do that.  Not even a car.

My mother-in-law: she confuses a computer with her chair.  To her “Internet”, “AOL”, “modem”, and “computer” all all-in-one.  They ALL MEAN THE SAME THING.  Try telling her different just confuses her.

The woman has gone through three computers in as many years, hoping one would work for her – and never realizing: she has to do some work instead.  Like learning things: what an operating system does, the difference between say, a modem and a disk drive.  What a “CD” means.  That ‘burning’ a DVD doesn’t involve flame.

And yet she gets pissed off too that this machine won’t do what she wants it to do – frustrated because she wont’ take the time to learn – but will take the time to grouse about the system’s malfunctions (when actually they are her own) – call their tech support guys (who haven’t a clue what’s going on) – and then, when the system finally protests and won’t do what she wants it to do (it can’t read her mind any better than it can read my own mother’s fickle constitution) – she goes and buys a new one.

I have several systems sitting around doing nothing (perfectly good, just a year and two old) – anyone want to buy one?

People expect too much from these things; they don’t realize: we are in the infancy of this ‘system’, this ‘Digital Age’.  (Somehow that sounds kinda nasty to me, like something digital going up my nether regions.)  This technology is relatively new – there’s bound to be some problems with it – plus it changes every day  – which is why I gave up on the IT field.  Too much education required – constantly, continuously, and what you learned won’t be any good tomorrow.

But people gotta learn – oughta learn – you gotta learn something about them (computers, I mean) if you’re gonna use them.  You have to devote yourself to actually studying and learning about them – not just plug them in and expect them to do all the work for you (which people do all the time).

It’s not a toaster, folks.  And I can’t “reboot the internet” for you (a request I sometimes get from users).  And it’s certainly not a car.

Old folks . . . gotta love them – but sometimes?  They expect too much from modern machines.  And that goes for some of you younger ones as well.  Machines aren’t going to save you (something else you might have to learn).  Only you can.

So get learning.  You know what you gotta do.

And don’t expect your computer to do it for you.  After all: your brain’s up there (pointing at your head) – not in this box you’re using.

Or isn’t it?