Week 7 #17 Technology

My husband says I am "technologically challenged". Perhaps that's true to a certain degree, but I don't think I'm completely lacking in ability. I personally feel that technology could be much easier if users manuals and instructions for equipment and gadgets were written in basic English in simple terms that the average person could follow. One has to wonder if technology writers puposely use their own jargon and vague directions to make it impossible for the reader to understand. I actually can now use the universal remote to play a dvd only because my husband wrote the directions down step by step so I could follow them. Don't ask me to do anything else with that remote however especially when it comes to Tivo programming or cycling through menus, etc. Technology is great, but if a gadget is too difficult to navigate, it will get minimal use or no use at all. I read an article in the paper that talked about how people love new gadgets and electronic toys and the latest in technology. But after purchasing them, they don't know how to use them to thier fullest advantage because some of the items are just too complicated, or the buyer thinks they're too complicated, and they can't figure out how to use them on their own. Even something as simple as our self-checkout machines is intimidating for many of our customers unless our staff shows them how to use the machines. Technology is advancing every day. I'm looking forward to it being more user friendly.