I
think most of us can agree on the three basic types of people
when it comes to technology…
*
Naïve
* Functioning
* Aware
I’m
making these general terms, sweeping in membership, but the ideas
will probably connect with you as fairly accurate and specific.
Naïve
folks are truly lost and overwhelmed by any advancements and changes
to the way things operate. Don’t ask them to set up an email account
on their smartphone or stream a movie. They may still be using
a landline with a cord, and when the remote is in their hands
they likely watch all of their television from one of the major
networks when the show is first broadcast.
Functioning
people are able to do what needs to be done. While they may not
be able troubleshoot problems and make detailed fixes, they understand
how to get their phone set up with their car’s Bluetooth and hands-free
operations.
The
aware group includes the individuals that understand the more
intricate details. These are the people that can wirelessly link
the television in one room with the hard drive in another.
Or…
Naïve
have troubles getting anything to print. Functioning get the printer
to work and know it should be able to be used wirelessly. Aware
have the wireless printer options working from their smartphone.
I
like to put myself in the functioning group. I can usually get
my electronics to do what I need them to do. I don’t have my email
set up on my phone, but I know a workaround so I can get to my
email on my phone if I really needed to do it. And when it comes
to the latest and greatest, I find I’m not unable to learn it,
I’m just more defiantly upset I can’t continue using what I know.
Consider
music.
Did
you know new cars no longer offer CD players as standard options?
Never mind the idea of the ability to play a cassette, you can’t
play a CD. That ticks me off.
When
I was growing up, the newest technology simply got added to your
music system. Started with a radio. Probably a turntable. Add
a cassette player. Maybe a dual cassette piece. 8-track for some.
CDs for all. Bit by bit, building on the foundation. Nice stuff
in your home.
Not
anymore. And when I got my first car that didn’t have a cassette
player, it was pretty upsetting.
I
had a tradition. Don’t know the exact date it started, by I would
play “Owner of a lonely heart” by Yes as the first song any time
I got something new. Portable CD player? Car? First song was always
“Owner of a lonely heart”.
Friend
of mine would often do the something similar. And since he picked
it up from me, when he got a new car recently, he invited me over
to go for a ride and try out the Bluetooth and USB connections.
And… well… we failed, miserably.
I
have an iPod that is roughly thirteen years old. (Yeah. Thirteen.
From around 2009. Still works when I’m taking a walk or mowing
the lawn, so there.) Apple has long since moved on from such a
piece of obsolete electronics. Turns out, the car manufacturers
have as well. Or, at least one has. My friend’s, that is.
When
we plugged in the iPod, the system wouldn’t recognize it. Said
it wasn’t supported. And that was a shame, since his car also
didn’t have a CD player. Because he uses his phone as, well, a
phone, he didn’t have a ton of music stored on it, limiting his
Bluetooth options.
At
this point in the story, there are people screaming “Spotify”
and such, flaunting their unlimited data plans and music without
a tangible, physical copy of anything in hand. The same people
that chuckle when you want a separate GPS unit for the car. And
none of these people are wrong. The latest and greatest can be
amazing and brilliant.
But
there’s something to be said for the olden days. For a backward
compatibility of sorts.
I
don’t think it’s wrong to want some options for our technology.
For a car to at least be able to have an old iPod plugged in without
saying it’s no longer compatible. It’s such a lack of understanding
from the aware that turns the functioning into the naïve
with the only response being laughter with an observation to catch
up to the times.
(Is
it any wonder so many of us chuckle when a hurricane comes through,
the power goes out, and all those aware folks suddenly wind up
disconnected from the world and unable to even get a pizza?)