November 12th, 2009|1:17pm.
Today I was checking out a link posted by an HCI friend of mine. The site was about World Usability Day, which seems like a pretty good idea; make technology easier for people to use. I work with HCI, I like things that make technology more user friendly. Usability good. Yes.
What struck me as obtuse was part of their explanation behind the motivation for World Usability: "...Technology today is too hard to use. A cell phone should be as easy to access as a doorknob."
Is that really true? That's like saying Photoshop should be as easy to use as Paint. If you want a cell phone that just makes calls, these exist and I'm sure they're really easy to use. If you want a cell phone that's also an mp3 player, video player, note pad, calendar, gaming platform, web browser, email client, camera, photo editor, etc. then perhaps you're going to have to deal with more complexity. This is not to say that these complex systems can't be made easier to use, but it seems unrealistic to expect a device with multiple (sometimes unrelated) functions to be as simple as a device with a single function.
Perhaps this is just an extension of my frustration with people who claim that technology makes life more complicated. Nobody's forcing you to update your Twitter from your phone. Nobody's forcing you to be in constant email contact (and if they are, perhaps for a work situation, then you should be getting compensated for this in some way). If you think that using a microwave makes your life more rushed, don't use it. Write a letter instead of an email if you really want. Call someone rather than texting them if you want more personal communication. Technology doesn't necessarily force people into more complicated lives, but it does provide them the option of "complicating" things if they choose to.
People, we're working on making things more user friendly. It's harder than one might think for the technologies that provide the most benefits/features. If you think that the cool features outweigh the added complexity, use cool new devices. If you want something that does one thing simply, use that, they're out there (and then maybe check out the next version of the cool new device... it might have gotten better).
I agree with you 100% here. People aren't born with the ability to write. They have to learn how. Every aspect of life has a learning curve, and technology is certainly no different. Just because you can't pick up a device and instantly know how to use every aspect of it doesn't mean it's hard to use. It may just take a few minutes of learning. And if you're that opposed to learning new skills, well, then you're pretty much done living.