maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru...

[centerline]

it seems like as I get older, I have less and less patience for learning how to operate the electronic gadgets that I cant seem to stop buying....

when I was young and dumb and knew it all, the instructions that came in the box with the device was only for sissies that didnt know any better... but now I find I am removing the instructional booklet from the box and reading it all over, before I ever even touch or see the device itself.

maybe all these years has sissified me, but I can still outwork, outrun, outlast, outcuss, outdrink and outsmart most of the young fellers, and im not too sure but what i cant figure out how to make an electronic device operate better than most of them (unless it plays video games, in which case I dont even go there!)

I used to enjoy the challenge of figuring out a new GPS, or a camera.... but these days I dont even want to read the book about how to do it. all I want is to pay someone to figure it out then show me how its done... (a hands-on class would be good).

we just recently replaced our laptops.... one would think with all the experience and smarts microsoft got by the time they developed windows7, that when they came out with windows8, it would have been the best thing that has happend since apple/mac... but Noooo. they just couldnt leave well enough alone! so, back to school to learn how to run a computer.... (the 8.1 download has made it somewhat better)

but I still havent taken the time to figured out how to load topo maps to the gps I bought over the summer, or even to use the not so easy EasyGPS program...
or figured out how to run my ipod from my new ipod ready stereo, or figured out some other stuff that is awaiting my attention... (although I did get the tiller pilot figured out, its so sweet!)
and today my new cannon T3i camera arrived, cuz I need it to take better sailing pictures next season(yes, thats what I told her)... and, as I type this, im trying to get up the nerve to open the camera box and begin another dreadfull experience with buttons bells and whistles that I know nothing about...yet!

im not sure if im just prematurely getting a cantankerous attitude, or if I am going senile, but I find I do so much better without the stress of trying to figure out how to run the new gadgets...

Getting new toys just isnt as much fun as it used to be. but im still smiling about it anyway

anyone feel the same way?...

 

[Delezynski]

I hear ya!

It's all a plot. They don't want to make things easy, they want them hard to figure out so they can sell more of them!! :naughty:

Seems the companies that build things want to put software (or what not) that does more and more things, even if it's not needed!

I still have a phone that lasts 2 weeks on one charge and guess what? It makes phone calls! NOTHING MORE!!! Not a camera, not a video camera, not a recorder, not a gps, not all that other CRAP, just makes phone calls.

Greg

 

[Picflight]

I find myself reading the manuals too now. I recently read the manual for the first time of a camera I bought 11 years ago.

I too am learning windows 8 after using computers for over 25 years.

 

[Roadking Larry]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

I've been a tech guy for going on 35 years. Most techie stuff comes pretty easy to me and if I can play with a device for a while I can usually figure it out. It does seem that in recent years the trend has been to make the user interface ever more complex and less intuitive. I think part of that is due to off shore developemnt and the younger nature of current developers/designers that have been dealing with electronic tech all of their lives.

 

[Sailm8]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

I'm not too fond of nested menu's that go like 7 layers deep. It is frustrating to know you saw or worse yet, did an action, and can't find it again.

My car Garmin said "recalculating, drive 312 miles and make a U turn".

 

[Old Skool Neil]

There's a Catalina 27 for sale you should really look at. I promise it's worth the time to read the entire listing.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/boa/4234040827.html

 

[Kermit]

Quick note on cameras. I've been a professional photographer my entire career and use 2 Nikon bodies that each cost as much as my H23. Both bodies and lenses together cost as much as my H260. I use very few of the options on the cameras and don't know what most of them do. Don't need to know. I use the features that matter to me and don't worry about the others.

So, learn the features you need and enjoy sailing for what it is.

 

[Chris Patterson]

So this is what it's come to..

 

[Pink Flamingo]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

Same same same,never used to read instructions,now I don't understand them anymore.
It is a conspiracy by the manufacturers to sell the "for dummies" upgrade.As soon as you have figured it out another upgrade is required.

 

[Panta Rei]

Intuitive interface

but I find I do so much better without the stress of trying to figure out how to run the new gadgets...

Getting new toys just isnt as much fun as it used to be. but im still smiling about it anyway

anyone feel the same way?...

Your problem is the "intuitive interface". Us old farts expect a set of instructions. It they exist, they are certainly incomplete because the manufacturer relies on the intuitive interface. Kids don't read instruction manuals , they rely on previous knowledge of how other such devices work. I.E. they play with the thing. Stop reading incomplete instructions unless there are huge warnings that use words with less than three syllables(any other text will likely be a legal discaimer). Use help screens, search help files or simply use google and ask questions referring to the make and model. Last resort wait for a brain transplant as I'm doing.

 

[Rick Webb]

You Get Manuals?

I get sixteen pages of:

How what I just bought may give left handed albino transsexual mice in California cancer.

Not to even look at the new device without consulting my doctor.

Don't use in the rain, in the pool or even outdoors.

Don't even try to peek through the slots to the inside unless you are a professionally certified factory trained technician.

Piracy is an international crime that funds terrorists

All of the actors are over 18

Don't wash in a washing machine or put in a dishwasher

Then it takes a chisel, maul and a chainsaw to get the damn thing opened only to find out I cant see the buttons or push them unless I use a sharpened pencil.

On top of that the device that you bought to get you onto the internet requires you to go online to read a manual that was written by the same Chinese guy who taught sign language to the guy at Mandela's funeral and to download the software or the drivers before you install it.

The NSA would be the heroes of the century if while they are monitoring us trying to install our stuff they just had a drone drop us the disk with what we need to make it work. If they were helpful and useful everyone would be giving them all of their information no need to gain it surreptitiously.

 

[justsomeguy]

 

[Sailm8]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

I like the silica packs that say DO NOT EAT. And here I thought they packed a complimentary mint with their product. Of course you need to blast open the bubble pack first. And if you can get that open in less than 10 minutes and use only 3 tools or less, I think you should get a mint.

 

[Chief RA]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

OK, I can't stand it, I have to comment. I have spent most of my life in the electronic field and hate to operate this stuff! I love the theory, schematics, test equip.,inner parts, teaching it, etc, but I can barely even operate my GPS! Chief

 

[brazenarticle]

Of course you need to blast open the bubble pack first. And if you can get that open in less than 10 minutes and use only 3 tools or less, I think you should get a mint.

got a new leatherman in the mail the other day - short circuited some brain cells ruminating that the tool I need to cut the plastic packaging was right there on the other side of the plastic packaging.

 

[Delezynski]

On the subject......

We have been ordering items from Amazon.com lately. AND, on every order, once it arrives at our door, we get to give feed back on the packaging! :dance:

There MAY be light at the end of the tunnel that isn't the train??

Greg

 

[centerline]

On the subject......

We have been ordering items from Amazon.com lately. AND, on every order, once it arrives at our door, we get to give feed back on the packaging! :dance:

There MAY be light at the end of the tunnel that isn't the train??

Greg

well, to put it mildly, you can fully believe that the feedback area is not ignored by me

I expect good service no matter where I shop... (i own a business and have to deal with people both in selling goods and services and buying goods for resale, so I know what is fair and what isnt)
and im always pleased when the service i receive is as expected.. but when something special is done to make the transaction better, a good word is always passed on and someone gets praised for it....

and when the deal goes rotten because someone didnt fulfill their end of the bargain, or made promises they couldnt keep (and sometime they know in advance that it is BS), false advertising or some other customer service related issue, they will hear from me also, in a loud negative tone....


when I sent the original post, I wasnt sure if it was just me or if others were experiencing the same issues..... and in a way, its troubling to see that it is not just me.
if it was just me, then I could see myself slowly slipping away and soon i would be gone as the world goes on in its happy untroubled way....
but with most others having some issues of the same nature in one way or the other, the problem seems to be wide spread and suppose i should lighten up on myself and just accept that it is a change of the times thats causing the problems, its not just me, and its probably going to be like this for a long time

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

got a new leatherman in the mail the other day - short circuited some brain cells ruminating that the tool I need to cut the plastic packaging was right there on the other side of the plastic packaging.

often go out to the shop, and use the band saw to open bubble packs.

I have a very small compact underwater camera- A Pentax. And the user manual (ALL in english) is the same thickness as the camera and twice as wide. Never have managed to wade through the entire thing!. 316 pages!!!!

 

[Stu Jackson]

Re: maybe I should talk to a therapist, or a self-help Guru.

RTFM, F stands for funny!

 

[caguy]

This is no country for old men.

I feel your pain Centerline, I am currently trying to understand Windows 8 on the Surface Pro, and I've met my Waterloo.