Infuriating when people can't use simple devices

[chameleon]

There are an awful lot of "can't learn, won't learn" people out there.
Simply a case of I don't understand how to do it so I won't even try.

 

[Kosmiche]

We got a sky+ hd box recently, I hate the damn thing. Using the menus and finding something to watch is just painful, the regular sky+ seemed a lot easier to use.

This sky+ hd makes watching tv too difficult and I much prefer freeview, all I end up doing on sky is flicking through menu's not watching anything.

Its crap.

 

[atpbx]

The annoying part is that people can't be bothered to learn.

I am working with a woman who has this exact same problem.

She has upgraded from an iPhone 4 to a 5 in the last couple of weeks, the first thing she said to me was "I cant work it".

It's the same phone, it does the same things.

Turns out her ex set her 4 up when she first got it and she has changed nothing on it in 3 odd years.

 

[Wizzfizz]

The annoying part is that people can't be bothered to learn.

Pretty much this.

 

[COYS]

Should be a licence people have to have to use technology like phones, PC's, sky boxes etc. if they cant pass the test then they're not allowed to buy one.

 

[Malevolence]

I'll never forget getting a phone call from my Mother who couldn't log-in to her account on a holiday site because it kept saying "The email address you entered is incorrect" or something along those lines. She was adamant that she was entering it correctly.

Cue me going down there and fixing it with a single sentence. "Mum, you have to use the @ character, not type 'at'"

 

[panyan]

try to break down a barrier which is nothing to do with technology, and everything to do with mental obstacles.

+1

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

My 75 year old Grandma can use Windows XP and email.
I have no idea why people in their 40s cannot use a Skybox.

The annoying part is that people can't be bothered to learn.

This I feel is the main problem. I found it hilarious when my Mother did not know how to use the pay-at-pump method at Tesco the other week.

 

[Angilion]

I think there's a problem of association - many people associate the complexity of the technology with the complexity of using it and convince themself that they can't understand how to use it because they don't understand how it works. It's wrong, but understandable.

Age is also a factor, as it becomes harder to learn new things as you get older. The association plays into that because it causes people to see using new technology as being a new thing because the technology is a new thing. Hence, for example, geekman's mother perceiving using the remote control as a new thing even though the buttons on it were labelled with exactly the same icons as the buttons she must have used many times (but not on a remote control).

I see it at work quite a lot. I work in a bingo club and over the last few years we've partially moved from paper to tablet PCs. It's the same bingo played in the same way - you just touch the screen instead of putting some ink on paper - but it's common for it to initially confuse some customers, especially those who aren't young enough to have grown up with handheld computers and touchscreens. We get some damage caused by people using far too much pressure because they're expecting the resistance and movement of a physical key. The association (complex equipment == complex usage) can lead to really silly things, such as a person of normal intelligence making themselves unable to understand entering their own day and month of birth by touching large, clearly labelled numbers in the relevant order. Humans are, in general, prone to holding on to preconceived ideas even in the face of evidence.

But I also see it in myself as I get older. Maybe in another 20 years I won't see it in myself even when it's there. Maybe I'll be the person looking strangely foolish to a younger person because I'll be making such a meal of simple use of complex technology because I'm thinking that complex technology means complex usage of it and they've grown up using it and are therefore familiar with the knowledge that the usage is simple even though the technology is complex.

 

[Caged]

Are you serious? The Sky+ HD UI is COMPLETELY different to the 90s interface.

It's exactly the same layout with a bit more transparency and some new colours. Having said that I can't really think of any ways of improving on it.

 

[bitslice]

Having said that I can't really think of any ways of improving on it.

I can,
I want to watch something from a selection of personal interests.
What I don't want is to flick through each (randomly ordered) channel trying to work out if that channel is likely to be of interest at this particular half hour time slot.

Better still if it remembered the 1001 actors I like and the 1001 films I've liked and work out any likely patterns.

Although given that the total offerings vary between soaps, sitcoms, reality shows and x factor then I'll stick to bittorrent and not having a TV

 

[Caged]

That's adding features, not a different UI. You'd still have to plod through the thing with arrow keys.

I'm glad it gave you a chance to jump in to tell everyone that you don't have a TV though.

 

[TommyV]

I have to teach my beloved grandfather with all this stuff (texting, setting up his internet at home, configuring a new laptop etc), patience is needed

 

[Christmas themed thank]

That's adding features, not a different UI. You'd still have to plod through the thing with arrow keys.

I'm glad it gave you a chance to jump in to tell everyone that you don't have a TV though.

It is still pretty different in my view.

I wish I could Netflix on it and I wish it supported 1080p.

 

[bitslice]

That's adding features, not a different UI. You'd still have to plod through the thing with arrow keys.

BBC's iPlayer manages to group things under various topics, that's a UI and easier to use IMO.

I'm glad it gave you a chance to jump in to tell everyone that you don't have a TV though.

I'm glad you recognise the inferiority of the TV owning classes as cultural Neanderthals. I wasn't going to mention my own TV status because I actually thought nobody would notice (can you believe that! ), but I'm desperate for attention so I ran with it. Now I'm really happy I did

 

[B@Th*nG]

My job is, in part, a software trainer for a company who produce their own ipad software. Our interface is fantastic but the single biggest issue I have is some peoples learning ethic is just pathetic. What makes somebody good at this sort of thing is how you respond when you're doing something you've never before and get to a stage when you get lost. The idiots just shut down and make no other effort than to get frustrated at it because it hasn't slapped them in the face with the answer. Just read the screen you massive **** wit and stop putting barriers up because you're your own, and my, worse nightmare. With that in mind there is obviously a limit where this is superceeded by a woefully inadequate ui which has been developed by a bunch of syphilitic baboons.. I am of course taking about the Virgin TiVo box. It is the single worst ui I have ever used and if I met said baboons I would eat them and then **** them out into their own letterboxes.

B@

 

[i5aces]

virgin TiVo box. It is the single worst ui I have ever used

I think this to myself everytime I use it

 

[Doomedspeed]

I had to help a guy struggling with a car park ticket payment machine the other day.

He put his card in then turned to me: "what now?"..

"Enter your pin"
"Where, its still processing"
"Its waiting for you to enter your PIN"
"No its not"
"yes it is"
"Where do i enter my PIN"
"on the keypad"
"where's that?"
"The same place your entered your card into"
"Ahhh..."

 

[yhack]

I think when you get older, you can't learn well anymore. I'm basing this on no scientific evidence whatsoever.

 

[Mark A]

My Mum has had Tivo installed for a year or so and still doesn't use the pause or rewind feature. She will rush into the kitchen during the ads and miss programs when people phone up etc. I have showed her countless times how to work it but she seems to just refuse to adapt to new technology, despite paying a premium for the service .

Also one of these people who constantly gets the names of things wrong. She's is still calling Virgin Media 'cable and network'.... I'm sure she does it on purpose as it winds me up lol.