Have you ever wondered why so many gadgets come without user manuals? Careful - how you answer may betray your age!
My husband bought an iPod Touch about a month ago and is still figuring it out. It's the same with many Web 2.0 websites - there can be a level of assumed knowledge or understanding that may seem inpenetrable. Take a look at the Seesmic homepage, for example. What would your average man or woman in the street make of it?
Of course, you could argue that no-one reads user manuals anyway, they're famously boring and often your question isn't answered.
Some have even suggested that making things difficult to fathom is deliberate, in order to exclude... I recall a designer once handing me a business card which was almost illegible and laughingly remarking that the typeface was small because 'anyone who couldn't read it would probably be too old ...' ('...for us to want to work with' was hanging in the air.) OK, it was a joke, but perhaps not that far from the truth!
It's probably more likely that I'm just showing my age - unlike the Milennials, us older peeps grew up taking instructions and expecting a user manual. But for anyone under 30, it's about figuring stuff out, quickly seeing potential and doing your own thing - you choose how to use your gadgets, customise your profile pages, create your own content and methods. You ask your friends, discuss it on forums & blogs, exchange tips and re-write wikis.
It's one reason why there seem to be as many Twitter or Facebook experts as there are users, and why there are so many widgets, mashups and new apps being developed all the time. The sheer creativity is fantastic, I love it. But part of me also mourns the good old user manual.
I don't think that the younger generation is necessarily more able to grasp new technology or work with Web 2.0, they just have different expectations and different approaches. My 13 year-old stepson is just as bemused with his iPod Touch as my husband is with his, the difference is that not being able to refer to a manual doesn't frustrate him.
Is this trend a good thing - does it mean people are becoming more creative, better problem solvers, potentially better teachers, leaders and collaborators?
