the shrewdness of apes

the NYTimes fans the flames of the technological divide today, with an article about how computer "geeks" are quickly tiring of the idiocy of those who unleash viruses by clicking on strange attachments or install spyware on their machines simply because they don't know any better. it goes on to describe the increasing exasperation of those who are called upon to help the clueless both at work and home:

Mr. Rubenstein, a member of the technical support staff at a New York City law school he thought it best not to identify, is not at liberty to dispense such advice at work. Instead, he answers endless calls about malfunctioning monitors that turn out not to be plugged in, and broken printers that start working again as soon as he removes the single piece of paper obviously jamming them.

these types of problems are very typical, at least in my office. i can't tell you how many times i've been called to someone's desk about a problem only to have it mysteriously disappear once i arrive, or to have things work perfectly when i try to recreate it. things not plugged in, or loose connections are the culprit more often than anything else. (as if to drive this point home, i just went to help someone who couldn't get a modem to dial out, only to discover that the splitter that his computer hooked into wasn't actually plugged into the phone jack, thereby explaining the lack of a dial tone. and to think that i almost got on the phone to Verizon to get them to send someone out here!).

meanwhile, there are those who simply won't trust themselves to be able to learn, retain and apply technological knowledge, exemplified by this quote:

"There are these MP3's and PDF's and a million other things that you don't even know what they are," Ms. Tauber said. "I don't feel like I need to figure out computers, because my instinct is there's just no way."

this woman is 24 years old, by the way, so she has no excuse about not growing up with computers or some such bullshit. sorry miss, but your instinct is completely wrong here. no one's asking you to build and program your own computer - just understand how it works a little bit. learn where it puts files in different circumstances so you can find them later. learn how to install programs properly. learn how to indenitfy harmful elements that might damage your computer, or make it more annoying. take steps to keep your computer in good working order, etc. would you buy and operate a car without some training in how to do it properly? of course not, yet people frequently pull a computer out of the box and expect it to magically perform to their expectations with no effort on their part.

the following is an exchange that transpired between a co-worker and I about 2 years ago:

her: [ambling over to my desk] jamie, how do i paste something into a document?
me: just hit control+V and it will place it wherever your cursor is.
her: oh right, thanks!

her: sorry, Jamie, is the shortcut for paste control+P?
me: [forehead vein throbbing, voice rising, sphincter tightening] no, it's control+V!! it's on the "edit" menu if you forget! [to myself] jesus f-in christ! what have i done to deserve this fate?

and this is an educated woman who had been a television producer. so she had to be familiar with problem solving techniques and troubleshooting. and yet in the face of technology she just decided that she didn't know anything and was therefore completely helpless on her own. she even saved all of her files on floppy disk because she couldn't figure out our very simple filing system on the file server.

at any rate, the point i want to make here is that it's really not that hard to learn a few basic things about your computer that will help improve your experience using it and prevent a host of problems from occurring. if you think that you just don't understand how they work, or that it's too much effort to learn, you are wrong. trust yourself - if you're smart enough to have earned enough money to buy a computer, you're smart enough to operate one successfully on your own. here's a good site that covers a wide range of topics.