If any of my readers know me personally, you may know that my patience towards certain people isn't the best. I have a bad tendency to get cross easily when I can clearly see a solution and someone else in my vicinity is still scratching their head about it.
One of the types of people are Technophobes, individuals that are scared of technology and can't seem to keep up with up coming future advancements of technology. Now before people do that the whole pointy finger "You're so mean Goobs" thing; there's a reason why I put "certain" in brackets in the title. What I've discovered through my journey in life is that there's no such thing as one kind of "Technophobe".
- The "Absent" Technophobe
This is more or less what most people, at least in the UK, think is a technophobe, a person who never used technology, therefore as they haven't used technology, are a scared of technology purely on the basis that they never used it before. These can be people such as older generations, such as my grandparents, who didn't have the same education as I had where I had computers in schools and they didn't. Fortunately these Technophobes can be educated, and can take things in, they can be willing to learn, unlike the others below... - The "Wanna-be" Technophobe
These are more of less the people that drive me crazy, they're the kind of person who even though they have the kit, and have used it for a long time, you can't seem to learn them anything! They'll use a mobile phone for years, know how to make calls, can send the occasional text message, but showing them that they can receive their emails through their phone too, and they're instantly lost. You can show them plenty of times how to do it, but they just block out things because they make it look hard for themselves and not realise how easy it is, they only want to learn something if it's something that they have to do all the time rather than something that might be done every other day. A good example is my Mother, I don't want to give her grief, I really don't want to, but on a daily basis she'll scream at me from downstairs and demands that I solve a problem for her, thing is we have had the same amount of time exposed to technology, we have had a PC or a Mac in the house since 1994, yet simple thing like "Finding the Spell check" and "How to send attachments" can still be a challenge to my Mother, even if I show her plenty of times how to do it! - The "Protesting/Gullible" Technophobe
Oh boy... This came up in a conversation that I had with a customer, fortunately the customer was on my side. He was telling me about a client of his who was against have a wireless router in their room because of "Techno Smog". Yeah... Fortunately I don't have to bare with these kind of people so much, but I have met a few of them, the kind that are scared of mobile phone signals giving them cancer, despite the fact they own a microwave! They believe in what I call "Electronic Conspiracies", nonsense that other technophobes have written that try to claim that technology is out to kill us and we need to live our lives in more simple ways. In irony in most cases like this is that most "Electronic Conspiracies" target certain types of technology, be it mobile phone, wireless networks, even thing like electrical pylons! They then get conned by other technophobes to purchase crazy clothing made of tin foil to so called "Protect them", despite the fact that last time I did physics I swore it was lead that blocked radio waves, not tin!
What's worse it that the more I look into things, the internet is (slowly) becoming a way to spread technophobia onto others. Be it against video games, social networking or the new trend of saying that ALL mobile phones have hidden microphones inside that the FCC and the CIA are listening to everybody, even when it's turned off! I mean come on, when it's turned off!? Someone didn't pay attention to physics again, I might advise taking night classes at your local highschool/SixthForm and learn a little about how electronics work before telling me that there's a microphone in my phone and can listen on me even when it's turned off!
Plus I was randomly looking things up on Google and StumbleUpon when I discovered this Cartoon...
All I can say is "Really?", I know cartoons are there for comedic purposes, but it does put me in a mode of thought where even in a fraction of a percentage; there's a chance that the artist may believe that what's he's draw is correct, that Twitter will be the fall of Human communication. Again this is Technophobia kicking in and not realising that there's more ways to get your voice on the internet other than just Twitter, there's Facebook, Google+ and other social networks. Not only that but you have Forums, instant messengers, IRCs, Skype/VOIP, the internet isn't just an evolution of communication technology, it branches out different ways to communicate, not just Twitter...
Anyway, before I sound like I'm ranting a bit too much, there is light on the other end of the tunnel here. I follow @stephenfry on Twitter and he wrote a Tweet about an event that the BBC is doing called "Go-On Give and Hour", an event where people like me give an hour to an "Absent" technophobe to encourage them to get online and enjoy what the internet can give them. I'm very tempted to get onto this, and use my skills to get someone to enjoy the internet rather than avoid it. Maybe I can get a reader of mine to get involved too! :D
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