Users are stupid and I have proof.

This really doesn't surprise me, and it extends to other types of technology as well. I've heard something like half the people don't know how to record on their VCR, which is one reason why they offer to sell tapes of a show right after it airs. And then you have all those digital clocks that are always blinking 12:00.
 
heh, yeah the story got icq'd around where I work.. not a big surprise...

But then they have moved to software switches and it seems that a manufacturer can put as many(or as little) switches and lights on the front of a computer as they want. Not only that, but the switches could have one of many functions including power on, off, suspend, standby, delayed power off, etc.... I'm not surprised.
 
i think it's often taken for granted by us that not everyone is born with technical knowledge of computers. People have to learn what a monitor is, what the keyboard is, computer, mouse, etc.

If they have not had this exposure in school then it's usually when they get their 1st computer or when they use a computer at work.

Unfortunately, both these environments far too often assume that the user has some inate sense of the basic parts of a PC and their functions. Or worse, how to use them properly.

A little training in the beginning goes along way to making an informed user.

Next step is to get people to read the readme.txt if they're having problems...
 
I don't think this is limited to PC use Blake. None of us in this forum were born with the innate sense of operating, let alone fixing, a computer. This has more to do with what our group would consider common sense, and that would be the basic technical operation of almost anything. Parts move, buttons can be pressed, lights flash, and we find it logical to operate this equipment in a certain sequence or manner regardless if we've seen the device before or not. Even the odd notations or symbols that come on the display, are screen printed onto a button, or printed in the universal users manual can be translated by this us. I believe those 1-in-7 PC users have more to deal with then just the power switch on their PC.
 
I see where you're getting. Good counter point. But I think with a little training, people can become familiar with a device and can ... I forget the phsycological term... but they can apply that knowledge to another similar situation. Our brains probably do this well, and that's why we can look at almost anything for the 1st time and figure it out with relative ease.

Maybe the problem is that these "1 in 7" haven't gotten the initial exposure... they haven't gotten their foot in the door, so to speak. Once they do, situations where they come into contact with unfamiliar technology will probably become more familiar and less of struggle for them.
 
It's a button!

You press it! Lots of computers ONLY have a power button nowadays. How hard can it be?

Sometimes it's labelled.

I'll admit, the standard 1 / 0 label is a little obtuse (lots of my students aren't aware of the standard layout or symbols for tape recorder and VCR buttons, either), but if there's just a couple of switches on the front of the noisy box under your desk, you'd think someone would take the initiative to, oh, I don't know, press them, maybe?

Turning it off might be a different matter, but if these helmet-wearing rejects from the short bus can't manange to remove their fingers from their collective noses long enough to find "on/off" there's no hope for humanity.

I'd fully expect a central African Hutu tribesman - someone with no cultural context in which to place the noisy beige bringer of pornography - to figure out how to turn a computer after a moment's investigation.

Turning it off? I can sympathize with that one. Not being able to use a mouse or a keyboard? OK. I can accept that. But not that there are people too stupid to find the little bull's-eye that says "Press Here".
 
Those that have problems with computer buttons usually operate out of a sense that they're idiots and therefore fear the device. They have the ability to learn (as Blakerboy mentioned), but instead have this innate fear of almost anything electronic or mechanical. Hence, their issue is far beyond the pressing a button. (As all computer technicians can attest to, psychologically, they know how to press buttons -- our button of madness.)
 
A few employers ago I went out to work on a guy's PC. He left the office and I did whatever I was there to do. Since it was late in the day I turned off the PC. He called the next day because the PC wouldn't come on. Long story short he only knew how to power up by using the switch on the power strip and I had used the PC's power switch to shut it off.

Some people should come with warning labels...
 
Buck said:
Those that have problems with computer buttons usually operate out of a sense that they're idiots and therefore fear the device. They have the ability to learn (as Blakerboy mentioned), but instead have this innate fear of almost anything electronic or mechanical. Hence, their issue is far beyond the pressing a button. (As all computer technicians can attest to, psychologically, they know how to press buttons -- our button of madness.)
Click to expand...

That really does sound like a psychology experiment waiting to happen.

In my experiment, the button-phobic user would discover that pressing the button on the computer didn't turn anything on or off at all. Instead, someone would show up at the door and deliver a donut each time the button was pressed.

I expect something like that would be an effective way to reduce button-phobia.
 
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