I often wonder about the way people use their computers.  It’s almost like they are arcane instruments that magically make information available with very little input from us.

A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.[1]

Now, I see this kind of ‘interruption’ happening all over the place where I work.  It’s how (B)Lotus is set up – automatically check mail every 10 minutes and when there is new mail, play a sound, flash a popup and get the pipes and drums going because this message cannot wait!  It’s part of the standard operating environment (SOE) mentality that I hate.  It means that I can’t make the computer do what I want it to.  It makes me a slave to the computer, rather than it being an instrument[2] that I use.

Admittedly, I do often see some users who manage to get in and change settings to suit themselves, but many many people seem to think it’s too important to change the settings or they just aren’t aware that they can[3]. I find the kind of statement shown above to be bereft of any thought.  I mean, would you sit in a house and complain about the wind/cold but not shut the window?

I don’t think we can blame our computers or Google or anything else for our failure to think about what it is we are doing. I really think, as far as our capacity with computers go, we are still learning to crawl, before we really learn to walk.  Sure, there are many of us who have learnt to run, some of us even come up with new ways of running.  I am quite happy walking with an occasional jog here and there, but I will not refuse to poke and prod and change settings to see what happens.  Yes, I break things, and yes, the tech guys get irritated at me, but I would not, could not use an SOE!  It’s like blaming Google for my inability to find what I want!  There is not a ‘mere button’ between me and information.  There are my eyes, my hands, my mind and my heart.  Each of these contributes to my understanding of the world.

Those of us who engage with technology with our minds and our hearts in gear, those of us who enter the new domain of knowledge, whether from our ivory towers or our mobile domains, we will be the intepreters, the way finders for those who follow.  Which one are you?

1. Is Google Making Us Stupid? [↩]
2. I still struggle with whether to call it a tool, an instrument, my slave, that thing wot i use, but whatever it is, it is NOT the master [↩]
3. I can give specific directions to anybody about how to turn this feature off in (B)Lotus and when I suggest it, the majority of people amazed that it can be done.  I haven’t used (B)Lotus for two years, actually it’s 22 months since I got the Mac. [↩]