Is technology getting “too complicated”?

[Tsukimori]

I agree with the general sentiment that technology is getting easier and more accessible to the layperson but said layperson's perception is paramount as to whether something or anything is "too complicated." People are creatures of habit, so new things are typically intimidating in a general sense. If the technology is ubiquitous and one has constant exposure to it so that they can adjust to incremental changes, it's usually fine and "not too complicated" - i.e. a cellphone to a smartphone, automatic transmission vehicles to vehicles with more driver assist/semi-autonomous functionality. Information overload (actually, more like avoiding the overload) is key - I think people who seldom use a computer are intimidated because there is so much functionality to take in all at once.

 

[notimp]

Essentially this boils down to "is complexity too complicated".

The smartphone revolution (iPhone, Android) and "Apps" did one thing in particular to appeal to more people. They got rid of all complexity (they caught ) and replaced it with decision cascades.

This is the same you are dealing with when you are calling a helpdesk support clerk. So instead of asking you what you want - you get asked 15 questions instead, that should have you end up at the desired result.

Down to the point, where it is obnocious.

It is not possible to make technology "more easy" withtout knowing context. And if you change behavior depending on context, you end up with erratic behavior.

So what did they take out? Radial menus, right click menus, file menus, file system handling at large, .. They took out everything thats complicateted. They applied standards to everything you buy. And people still complain that they are overwhelmed. Its a curse.

If you think back, of what it took to "master" Word, and then look at Apple notes in comparison (which people use similarly, believe me)..
Its the difference between 10 menu items, and 500.

And the simpler you get, the more flexibility and functionality you loose.

You can also think of it that way - think about what you can do with an Amazon Alexa, or with you in car entertainment system, out of the box. Thats the most simple you can get. Those are literally designed to be able to be navigated by everyone. Companies take out every potential pitfall they find. And people still find them complicated.

Part of it also has to do with "a common design language", but we've already got that, thanks to the iPhone. So people grew up with the iPhone find it easier to communitcate with all tech thats currently out there. People who have no concept of a desktop, and icon, a folder, a layer... Always will ask "where to click on the screen". Thats also part of the issue. You have to learn something. In the end you have to deal with abstraction, we cant spell out everything in easy to understand terms, or iconagraphy or repeat users would go crazy.

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Come to think of it, youtube is almost no abstraction. People literally go there to watch videos of "where to click". But come to think of it, a few months back my aunt had me guide her to find the volume control on a facebook video - so...

Probably because facebook autoplays videos (ad money), but starts them muted? I dont know - I dont use it.. So people now dont have the issue to find the play button anymore - but now they have the issue to find unmute - and if you'd auto unmute them as the default, they would stop using your platform.

But somewhere in between about 50% of people still think, that "it broke".

Its a curse...

 

[Alexander1970]

Hello.

Very few says "Smartphones are SOOOO easy today."

Try to imagine:

People who grow up with NEVER seen or USE an TOUCHSCREEN.They have PHONES with a DIAL WHEEL and later an KEYBOARD with KEYS like BIG LEGO bricks.

What do you think ?
Do you think it makes fun for them,if the Icons are permanent gone on their NEW SMARTPHONE - because the short time for TOUCH - HOLD - MOVE LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN is TOO SHORT for these people !

YES you can adjust it in the SETTINGS.
WHERE TO HELL ARE THE SETTINGS ? WHO I GET THERE ?
Nothing there to explain them.Go to the WEB and look.HELL HOW I GET THERE ?

And this is not only on Smartphones.EVERYWHERE is this "plague" with touchscreens.

- Train stations
- Bank/cash dispenser
- self service stores <---- another plague
- motorway service stations
- ..........


And NO ONE there to help ! Because of Staff austerity measures.

This is easy ? This i unCOMPLICATED ?

I can tell you,my YOUNG fellows:

DON´T GET OLD !

 

[Wallack]

Nah we are just older

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[Stwert]

Hello.

Very few says "Smartphones are SOOOO easy today."

Try to imagine:

People who grow up with NEVER seen or USE an TOUCHSCREEN.They have PHONES with a DIAL WHEEL and later an KEYBOARD with KEYS like BIG LEGO bricks.

What do you think ?
Do you think it makes fun for them,if the Icons are permanent gone on their NEW SMARTPHONE - because the short time for TOUCH - HOLD - MOVE LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN is TOO SHORT for these people !

YES you can adjust it in the SETTINGS.
WHERE TO HELL ARE THE SETTINGS ? WHO I GET THERE ?
Nothing there to explain them.Go to the WEB and look.HELL HOW I GET THERE ?

And this is not only on Smartphones.EVERYWHERE is this "plague" with touchscreens.

- Train stations
- Bank/cash dispenser
- self service stores <---- another plague
- motorway service stations
- ..........


And NO ONE there to help ! Because of Staff austerity measures.

This is easy ? This i unCOMPLICATED ?

I can tell you,my YOUNG fellows:

DON´T GET OLD !

Not all of “these” people thank you very much I am one of those people who grew up with a big wheel phone, when we eventually got one. A TV with only 3 stations to choose from and the most technologically advanced thing we had in our house when I was young, was a teasmade

Even when we got our first video recorder (Betamax nach) it was the size of a house. It had one of those new fangled remote controls, attached by a wire, so everyone tripped over it

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Heh...this thread reminds me of a work anekdote.

It was one of those obligated seminars about stress control. The tutor started with an anonymous quote. Something in the lines of "nowadays, there is far more to keep up with, which introduces an unhealthy amount of stress". We were asked to guess when this quote was made.
As it turns out, we were all off by a serious margin: it was said somewhere in the late nineteenth century.

The illustration there was pretty clear: technology advancements, and the eventual inability to keep up, is from all ages. It's not fun to realise that you're not keeping up, but it's just the way it is.


Hmmm...no, sorry. I don't agree. The feeling of getting overwhelmed is the symptom but not the root cause. Back when I was younger, my fascination for technology kept up with my fascination for the world. This is what I wanted to be, this was what interested me. But as I grew older, I found that my patience has grown shorter. Once you've got a job, a household to maintain, a girlfriend and/or a dog, you have less time to spend on things.

Can most people learn anything, provided they put their mind to it? Sure thing. It took him several dozens of attempts, but my father eventually learned how to write and receive mails (and after some nail biting failed attempts, I at one point managed to get him to abandon some ancient outlook express client to a mail client that actually allows you to locally backup your entire mailbox). But did it get easier? No. Rather than learning how to use his computer (or rather: the internet), he has learned that a son is pretty convenient to have when you're stuck on a basic problem with...anything.

With all of the personal projects I've been undertaking lately, in addition to having a job and having a rough go at it at college, this describes how I'm feeling about trying to keep up with not just tech, but video games. Like, there's that Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and I'm just thinking, "But I still want to play the DMC games, both Bayonettas before Bayonetta 3, maybe I should try and beat Metroid Prime 3 and go through the trouble of setting up the Wiimote receiver for my PC, actually, I think I'll go and try this thing, here's this cool thing, here's this awesome SBC that can emulate this and that...." and then it becomes a cycle, you know? It makes me consider what I want to do with my life, but I have no clear direction as to where I want to go or how to prioritize some things, and I'm in my mid-20's!

About the only clear goal I have right now is moving out, but that has less to do with my hobbies and more to do with my parents (and a good portion of my family) who are...backwards, to say the least.

 

[Stwert]

With all of the personal projects I've been undertaking lately, in addition to having a job and having a rough go at it at college, this describes how I'm feeling about trying to keep up with not just tech, but video games. Like, there's that Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and I'm just thinking, "But I still want to play the DMC games, both Bayonettas before Bayonetta 3, maybe I should try and beat Metroid Prime 3 and go through the trouble of setting up the Wiimote receiver for my PC, actually, I think I'll go and try this thing, here's this cool thing, here's this awesome SBC that can emulate this and that...." and then it becomes a cycle, you know? It makes me consider what I want to do with my life, but I have no clear direction as to where I want to go or how to prioritize some things, and I'm in my mid-20's!

About the only clear goal I have right now is moving out, but that has less to do with my hobbies and more to do with my parents (and a good portion of my family) who are...backwards, to say the least.

Jeebus that’s bad, I wish I was back in my 20’s. I seemed to have time for a good career, an endless string of parties, gaming and fun I can’t talk about here

Now that I’m in my 40’s I find I’ve never got enough hours in the day. But I suppose these days I work for myself and I’m married, that’s what I attribute to eating up a lot of my time.

You should definitely have a good think about what you want from your life and make a start on it. But life has a way of working out.

I didn’t really know for sure what I wanted. But somehow I managed to go from job to job, eventually ending up with a good career, a lifestyle I wouldn’t change for the world (though I’ll slap my kids stupid if they even think about doing half the shit I did) and I’m happy where I’ve ended up.

One thing more than anything else, no matter what you do, make sure you enjoy it and life in general. We come this way but once and it’s all too fleeting not to make the most of it.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Jeebus that’s bad, I wish I was back in my 20’s. I seemed to have time for a good career, an endless string of parties, gaming and fun I can’t talk about here

Now that I’m in my 40’s I find I’ve never got enough hours in the day. But I suppose these days I work for myself and I’m married, that’s what I attribute to eating up a lot of my time.

You should definitely have a good think about what you want from your life and make a start on it. But life has a way of working out.

I didn’t really know for sure what I wanted. But somehow I managed to go from job to job, eventually ending up with a good career, a lifestyle I wouldn’t change for the world (though I’ll slap my kids stupid if they even think about doing half the shit I did) and I’m happy where I’ve ended up.

One thing more than anything else, no matter what you do, make sure you enjoy it and life in general. We come this way but once and it’s all too fleeting not to make the most of it.

Heh, if only the endless strings of parties thing was something I feel I could get away with more easily. Kind of hard to do when you need a designated driver and a willingness to risk your overly religious parents getting on you for even having a sip of beer, and that's only the tip of the iceberg on how strict my parents and other parents are in the church denomination that's kind of destroyed my desire for those kinds of things not because I see anything wrong with them, but that by the time I could save up enough money to move out, I'd probably be 26/27 and wouldn't have a lot of experiences with parties and the like. Not to mention Asperger's Syndrome where, while I'm certainly on the higher functioning end of things, that fact leaves me anxious at times if I'm missing out on vital cues at times when dealing with people. To say it's taken a while to get out of this rut would be an understatement, though being able to pay for the date's dinner, buy my own stuff, pay for my own service, and just become somewhat independent does make it so I'm not as dependent upon my parents as I used to be, because the church denomination I'm referring to is one of those churches that will fervently deny them being cultish even though the behavior of its members and the congregations therein border on it at times if not outright cross that line.

Damn, I'm rambling again. Still, it's nice to get some encouragement from someone at your age who isn't all uptight about the music people listen to, what people do in their bedrooms, or everything else that falls under the umbrella of worrying about things that aren't your business. It's kind of all someone like yours truly is exposed to outside of the few friends I do have in RL.

 

[Stwert]

Heh, if only the endless strings of parties thing was something I feel I could get away with more easily. Kind of hard to do when you need a designated driver and a willingness to risk your overly religious parents getting on you for even having a sip of beer, and that's only the tip of the iceberg on how strict my parents and other parents are in the church denomination that's kind of destroyed my desire for those kinds of things not because I see anything wrong with them, but that by the time I could save up enough money to move out, I'd probably be 26/27 and wouldn't have a lot of experiences with parties and the like. Not to mention Asperger's Syndrome where, while I'm certainly on the higher functioning end of things, that fact leaves me anxious at times if I'm missing out on vital cues at times when dealing with people. To say it's taken a while to get out of this rut would be an understatement, though being able to pay for the date's dinner, buy my own stuff, pay for my own service, and just become somewhat independent does make it so I'm not as dependent upon my parents as I used to be, because the church denomination I'm referring to is one of those churches that will fervently deny them being cultish even though the behavior of its members and the congregations therein border on it at times if not outright cross that line.

Damn, I'm rambling again. Still, it's nice to get some encouragement from someone at your age who isn't all uptight about the music people listen to, what people do in their bedrooms, or everything else that falls under the umbrella of worrying about things that aren't your business. It's kind of all someone like yours truly is exposed to outside of the few friends I do have in RL.

Don’t worry about rambling, I do it myself often, I’m rather fond of it

Parties aren’t the be all and end all. If it’s a part of your lifestyle you enjoy, then so be it. If it’s not really your thing, well, there’s plenty of other ways to enjoy life.

If the church and overly religious people aren’t what you want to surround yourself with, then don’t. You should try and get out and make your own way. Don’t let other people ruin your life for you, even if it is family. Your family will either love you regardless, as religion teaches we should, or they won’t which will be their loss.

That probably sounds harsh, but you’re only going to get one life. Don’t let it be a miserable one.

I actually know a couple of people who have Aspergers, so I can kind of understand what you must be going through - even if just a little. Sometimes you may find, once the pressure to please other people and not worry about walking a line you don’t want to is off. You’ll relax among the friends you have made, who support your choices and you’ll enjoy life more.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a less uptight person than me, I was lucky growing up. Although my parents were strict (and I took a few beatings), by the time I was in my late teens, they trusted me to do the right thing when I had to. So rules were relaxed.

I was even surprised that they allowed me and my friends to smoke weed in my bedroom. But I guess they figured I’d do it anyway and they’d prefer I spoke about it to them. And I did do the right things - when the situation required it

But when you’ve been on the road with a band for a few years, the last thing you end up as is uptight

 

[InsaneNutter]

I think the answer to that is subjective and really depends on the person and the bit of technology in question.

Lets take online gaming as an example, if your capable of plugging a network cable in to a console or entering your Wireless password, you can probably get online, your game will patch it’s self and you can join the game your friend is currently playing in from your friends list.

When I started playing online games in the last 90’s things couldn’t be more different. You had to manually download the patch for the game you were playing, sometimes even manually have to “install” the patch by copying certain files to certain places. Your friend had to have done the same so both your game versions matched.

You then had to message each other the IP address of the server you were going to join, as chances were you’d both never find the same server in the server list. So you both had to be on something like MSN Messenger to communicate outside of the game you were playing.

If you or your friend wanted to host a private game one of you would have to know which ports to open in your firewall for that particular game and how to actually open a port in your firewall. If you had any mods installed for that game (modding PC games was was a big thing back then) you had to ensure your friend had the same maps / mods installed.

So yes things are certainly a lot easier today from a gaming point of view. I think that does create problems though as when something doesn’t work today the average person is probably clueless to even attempt to diagnose and rectify the problem.

I do feel the people growing up today with only smartphones and tablets are missing out when it comes to even learning the basics of how all the technology around us works.

 

[CORE]

Technology is getting more User Friendly and Accessible but more Complex Algorithms and Code that works in the background and what makes it up as a whole is a Labyrinth.

 

[AdenTheThird]

Tech gets exponentially more complicated every day.

 

[smilodon]

You have dozen layers of abstraction to ease your way into "technology" nowaday. So no, it does not get more complicated unless you want to do some low level stuff.