Human v Technology Quirks





This page is inspired by my random musings, and also by me reading the book Better Off: Flipping the switch on technology by Eric Brende.

This article is currently a work in progress :)
  • How much technology and gadgets is a good balance before it starts to become a hindrance in itself?
  • Do I use things in the way that the inventors intended? If not, why not?
  • Other interesting observations about human-machine interaction

How much technology is the right amount?

I am generally resistant to new technology unless or until I can see a clear personal benefit.
Even I think there is a benefit, I would then have to ask myself if it was something I really needed/could justify the cost, etc....

For many years I resisted moving from a paper diary to some form of PDA. I tried a few, but just resented (and still resent) something beeping at me telling me what to do, and taking over my life, and I hate the weak bits of the technology - like nothing seems to synchronise with anything else properly, there is no proper, working, standard for calendar or contacts synchronisation, so you either have to submit to the will of Microsoft, or struggle with the mish-mosh of incompatible packages out there - and PDA problems take an age to fix. I still miss my paper diary....

Why did I go for a PDA?

Actually, I got the PDA so that I could use a GPS application, and then found it useful for contacts, and eventually after a lot of struggle, calendar. It is useful when mobile so that I can see my diary, and having one diary and not two (one electronic diary at work, and my paper diary) allows colleagues to see everything in my diary automatically.

Also, if a paper diary is lost or stolen, this information would be difficult to replace. The PDA also has its issues, but also backs up my information automatically in case it dies, or is lost or stolen, my information is safe.

Gadgets and Technology I have:

  • Two computers
  • Printer
  • PDA
  • Work laptop
  • Two mobile phones (work/personal)
  • Work Pager
  • MP3 Player
  • Digital Camera
  • GPS receiver
  • IP Phone
  • Experimental Wireless IP Phone
  • Wireless home network+broadband
  • .....


Is all of this really needed? Probably not.

Is it made worse by working in a high-tech industry? I expect I could dump most of it if I didn't.

Annoyances of poorly thought out technology...

When I get overwhelmed by technology, I tend to start ignoring it, or adopting other coping strategies. Like turning it off or disabling bits of it.

Designers of technology do not always think about how people will want to use it. There are many examples of poorly thought out design. What benefit these give with one hand, they often take away with another. In short, they just annoy/frustrate me (and probably you...):

  • Poor usability design -- "I know there is some way to do this, but I can't figure out how."
  • Any kitchen appliance that takes longer to clean than it does to serve its original purpose, or are difficult to clean. Sandwich toasters and juice makers.
  • Web sites that force me to use their own wacky navigational controls, instead of the perfectly good ones in my browser, that I already know.
  • Web sites that force me to view all content through a tiny letterbox sized window in the middle of my screen, leaving the rest of my perfectly good screen that I paid good money for blank. Apparently it looks "cool"
  • Clocks on microwave ovens and similar appliances that seem to have the cheapest possible clock chip that drifts by about 5 minutes a month, that you can never quite remember how to set. If you're going to have a clock, please at least be vaguely right.
  • Sockets that are at the back of a machine and a pain to access when plugging in a portable device.
  • Server PCs that go BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP in a data centre to indicate some sort of fault, but nobody will attend that site for possibly weeks. (And no option to disable this!)
  • Obscure error messages that pop up, for which there is no help, that the user cannot reasonably understand. Users are not programmers. Why the hell would we know what Illegal exception error blah means, or what to do about that?
  • Why are serial and model numbers always on the back of everything, when that's usually the first thing the manufacturer asks you if you call them for support?
  • Stupid defaults on anything when taken outside of America. - Letter size paper. Wrong power leads. Wrong dial-up settings....
  • All rechargeable devices. Every one of them seems to require its own unique charger. (And the assumption that I have endless plug sockets.) When I travel, I need to take at least 3 chargers and travel adaptors. (Laptop/Phone/Camera/Music etc.) DECT phones or drills that you don't use often enough either have a flat battery, or the battery wears out from being on the charger 99% of the time.
  • Anything to do with Serial connectors and RS232. Nobody seems to have one standard way of wiring these. Is it CTS, Cross-over, roll-over, DTR asserted, plug or socket, 9 or 25 pin.....
  • Any piece of software that assumes you are going to be connected to the Internet when it wants something.
  • ... and then when you are NOT networked, anything which seems to take forever to finally realise that you are not connected and pop up that error along the lines of "I couldn't connect..."
Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) Everyday things
Don Norman's jnd website

I am usually hesitant to "upgrade" to something just for the sake of it.

Partly this is because of a fear of the unknown, having to get to grips with a whole new technology, and possibly an entirely new way of working. In other words, new technology has to work hard to get me out of my established comfort zone. Or: I'm just lazy.

But sometimes, my hand is forced in the matter, for example not being able to get hold of parts/support for the Legacy technology, or impending phase-out.

Some forced technology upgrades of our time
  • VHS to DVD, and eventually DVD recorders.
  • Digital vs. Analogue TV in the UK.
  • Digital mobile phones vs. Old Analogue phones
  • Tapes to CDs
  • Software. Have to install newer version of software in order to get support, or to correct a bug...
  • Having to replace software because the software is no longer being developed, "abandonware" and/or not going in the right direction. (i.e, one software company buys another and then the product you know and love disappears...)
Something is not always better just because it's newer.

One pet annoyance I have is when existing technology or systems suddenly get coined legacy for no good reason, but some new and shiny alternative has become available. Existing systems, which are doing the job perfectly well, are existing systems. Nobody died and left a legacy. "Oh no, your legacy web site content doesn't work with my shiny new content management system." - Last time I checked, HTML and CGI were still very much alive and well.

It seems that just when a technology gets mature, well understood and established, we cannot resist the urge to dump it and adopt something new and supposedly "better", expend huge amounts of money, time and effort to "upgrade" to it, whinge the whole time about it, then when this finally works, ditch that too... repeat.

Early adopters of new things usually lose out in some way. Buying the latest bleeding edge technology is not without risk! For example, when DVD players emerged, they were very expensive, region-locked, not particularly refined technology. Sometimes supposedly better technology fails to gain a foot hold and becomes a flop.

Flops of our time... (more flops here...)

Technology fails for a variety of reasons, either because it was flawed, too ahead of its time, or people just didn't get it, didn't need it, the designers didn't envisage how people would interact with it, or some rival (but not necessarily better) technology seemed to take hold.

Where are all these household robots we thought we'd have by now? Why aren't we all living like the Jetsons?

  • Airships
  • All home video phones
  • The Titanic
  • Betamax tapes vs VHS
  • Laserdiscs and CD-i
  • Minidiscs
  • BSB and Squarials (Killed off by Sky)
  • Rabbit phones
  • 3 inch floppy disks (famously used by Amstrad)
  • Amstrad Double Decker Video recorder
  • Token Ring vs Ethernet
  • Internet over TV set-top-box
  • WAP
  • IBM's OS/2 Warp. Gained brief popularity, then MS finally shipped Windows 95 (late) that summer.
  • Every cheapo digital organiser. All got squished by palm or pocket pc.
  • Psion's REVO. Fab thing, launched too late.
  • Iomega Clik! drive

Personal observations about human-machine interaction

Why do we do that....?
  • Press a button repeatedly in the false notion that things will happen faster. Example: Lifts and Pedestrian Crossings. We know from experience that this makes absolutely no difference. Yet still we do it.
  • On trying something and seeing that it doesn't work, we try again. Knowing full well that it won't work. Example: My document didn't seem to print, therefore, clicking print again will magically cause it to work.
  • Why do I always wait for the phone to ring twice before answering?
  • When my laptop beeps at me with the low battery warning, telling me to connect the power supply, I ignore it. Then I get angry 10 minutes later when it suddenly shuts down in the middle of my work.
  • What is it about instruction manuals that causes them to be largely ignored? (At least at first). Is it the way they are written, or that we think we will - or should - be able to figure it out for ourselves?