At one of my previous jobs all the employees were given Motorola T900 two-way pagers. After playing around with mine I determined that if I wanted to import the contact info for our group’s 60+ employees I was going to have to enter the details manually. Using the T900′s qwerty keyboard and an hour of my time, I was able to enter all the names, numbers, and e-mail addresses. When I finished, I shared my accomplishment with a colleague who asked me how I was able to import the info. I told ‘em and he responded:
HIM: How much money do you want to enter the list on my device?
ME: Fifty.
HIM: Done.
Are you kidding me? Instead of spending an hour with his pager he’d rather spend $50 and have someone else do it (btw, I eventually fine-tuned my skills down to 23 min). He wasn’t the only one though. I made a killing off my mobile qwerty skillz. But, the work didn’t stop there. I made additional cash by “training” people how to user their pager. Really? Training to use a pager? Really? Needless to say I made a lot of money off the technologically lazy.
Ten years later things aren’t much different. There’s still a boat load of new tech churning out daily, and there are plenty of laggards buying it up. What I don’t understand is why? Why buy something you aren’t going to fully take advantage of, or attempt to understand? Take, for example, the following scenario:
This xtranormal account is hardly fictionalized. The tech lazy are everywhere. These folk don’t even fake an attempt to learn how to use their new gadget. Enough already! Stop being a douche and figure out your device. Otherwise, why even have it? Learning’s hard. No, you’re just unwilling. I’m also way too busy. No, you’re just lazy. But those gadgets are complicated. Quit whining. Devices today are way more user-friendly than devices 10, 5, or even 2 years ago.
I don’t even know where to being. Sweet mother! Ever heard of that thing called the Internet? No. It’s a fantastical place where you can type a question into a little white box and with the click of a button you get thousands of potential responses related to your question. Really? Yes. Even better, whatever your device, there is a website or thousand dedicated to it. OK, I point taken. Now will you just tell me what apps to buy? No, but I will cave a little and provide you with a few resources. Beyond that, you’re on your own.
- Gizmodo (blog)
- TechCrunch (blog)
- Engadget (blog)
- TiPb (blog)
- FreeAppADay.com (site/free app)
- AppMiner (free app)
- AppAdvice.com (site/free app)
- iPhoneApplicationsList.com (site)
Seriously, if you aren’t going to make an effort at learning how to use a device then don’t bother using it. You’re just going to irritate those around you and make their lives difficult because you are so technologically lazy.
Are you, or do you know someone who is technologically lazy? If so, post your experiences below or send me an e-mail at me@y2kemo.com.
