I can still bend down just fine to pick something up or tie my shoes. But these days I think if there’s anything else I can do while I’m already down there.
It humorusly points out how things should be, and intentionally mis-attributes it to an “old person trait”, to suggest that it wasn’t always like this. You can read between the lines that the dark patterns are most likely motivated by greed.
To what degree? I know how to plug inputs into my tv and turn it on, I have no idea how the TV actually works. I know how to flip a light switch, I don’t understand how to wire a house.
Fair. I think to the extent of “if you use a web browser you have to know what HTTP is”. Not really how it works, just being conscious of the technology in use.
The idea is it’s a litmus test for tech literacy. It doesn’t have to be relevant to the daily browsing experience, it would just ensure that everyone on the internet knows what things like cookies are and what they actually do.
It’s like not bothering to learn what an engine is before learning to drive a car.
The problem with your examples is that they do affect the user’s ability to use the tech in question, and the same can’t be said for HTTP. If there isn’t a clear benefit to knowing something, then making it a requirement is just an artificial gate and an unnecessary burden. For example, pharmacists don’t withhold your prescriptions because you don’t understand a drug’s mechanism of action, but they do make sure you understand the risks and any drug interactions. Airlines don’t force you to learn how their planes create lift, but they do educate you on what to do in an emergency. I don’t see why tech should be any different from those 2.
You should know to the extent that you’re using it, not the other way around. You should understand that the house is wired, and you don’t know how to wire it, and that the light in that bulb is from fire, not wizard shit. Maybe also where to find books on how to wire a house.
Yeah, light emitting diodes don’t work like traditional incandescents. I suppose you could say that a filament bulb is a controlled fire, at the most simplistic and basic level, but that’s a misrepresentation of what’s really happening. The filament heats up to a very high temperature, causing it to glow and emit light. This process is known as incandescence, and it involves heating a material until it emits light, rather than burning or combustion, which would involve a chemical reaction with oxygen to produce fire. The bulb is filled with an inert gas or a vacuum to prevent the filament from burning up due to oxidation.
Why don’t you understand those things? Both are technologies that have existed for your entire life. You’ve never been curious how either of them work? I’m biased because I’m a naturally inquisitive person, but I can’t imagine being surrounded by things I don’t understand. You can learn about both of them in less than a single evening, and your life will be richer because of it.
My point is there are plenty of things people use every day and don’t fully understand the mechanisms behind them. That is the benefit of society having people with expertise.
The average person doesn’t need to know how springs are formed, the chemical make up of the metal involved, the process of cutting trees, harvesting their lumber, cutting it into planks, how to make screws, how to weave cloth, how to create the thread for the weaving, or how to collect the materials for the thread, all in order to sleep in a bed.
Do that for every item you use on a daily basis and you see how it becomes impossible. There’s always more you can learn and one person can’t learn everything.
This is such a big deal. The englebart paradigm of tech losing out to fucking Steve jobs put us on the bad timeline, maybe even more than Ronald Reagan.
I’m not sure you should have to fully understand, but tech that you use, and increase your agency by using abd knowing, rather than shit so simple it can use a child, is so fucking important.
Also, maybe we shouldn’t let every shiny algorithm with a primary color on its front page use children?
Don’t fall for framing of these type of things as a flaw in you. None of these are unreasonable ends for the young or the old. This is not about young/old, it’s about wealthy/not wealthy - the greedy fucks making these decisions are trying to make you casually take a side in a generational conflict so that you turn your pitchforks away from them.
These aren’t “old person traits”, these are you and I being socialized into believing that we don’t deserve the basic functionality of products and services (because we need to squeeze out slight additional profit margin for the capitalists running/ruining these things).
Hell at this point Id be happy to talk to a human fir customer support at ALL. Amazon had me doing a whole ass detective hunt that eventually ended up in me having to download their app before I could talk to a human
My old person trait is I think video games should give away the first level of a game as shareware instead of taking preorders for a game we may never play.
My old person trait is holding up traffic by driving at 40 mph on winding country roads until I get behind a tractor and then pull over to let the cars behind me pass.
You can learn what buttons feel like, and where they are (and the same for knobs) so yo ucan operate your vehicle without having to take your eyes off the road.
Tablets are sleek and shiny, and fundamentally horrible as a car interface.
I don’t necessarily have an issue with the screens. The problems are:
Commonly accessed features like choosing a media source, setting environmental controls, or even lighting, are buried several “clicks” deep. These need to be surface-level and need zero distraction from driving to interact with.
The “touch” part of touch-screen often sucks. Every car I’ve driven with touch interface requires too long of a press and/or doesn’t pick up the press. So you have to look away from driving to repeatedly mash a touch control. That’s not safe.
The touch area is often too small, such as arrow buttons to raise or lower volume, skip a song, or change temperature. Not only do they not register the touch, they’re too small. Double whammy for distraction.
and theres no tactile feed back. you have no idea where your finger is on the screen, So you have to take your eyes off the road to futz with a stupid menu in a stupid interface.
a button/knob? You can just reach, feel, and operate without ever taking your eyes or attention off the road.
This is why, at the ripe old age of mid-thirties, I just drive with one finger on the scan radio button and stop when I hear a song I like. About a year ago we purchased our first car with a touch screen and I will not adapt.
And they should bring back knobs and tactile functions for all white goods for people with disabilities or at least prepare and provide the model for exactly that. Touch screen was a terrible idea for washers, driers and dishwashers. This isn’t just an old person thought, it’s an inclusive thought.
Knobs are highly underrated for control interfaces. Gives users a fine degree of control to dial in as quickly or as slowly as they’re comfortable. They’re an old concept, but they can still benefit from contemporary tech. Have you ever used a Nest thermostat? The little blocks as you scroll through the settings, pushing the whole thing in like a button to select. It’s weirdly satisfying and I want to control everything with a big knob now.
Add comment