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Throw in a little aural and kinetics and I "might" be ok. Didn't have computers growing up. I knew they existed (watching tv shows/movies) and then later, our class was able to take a tour of one of the math classes - in a special room, that kind of looked like a cave from tv show "Batman" - the "bat cave". However, such classes were for those in Advanced Placement.
Since then; yes, I have had some exposure to computers. However, the way DH set his up and the way mine is set at work, there is lots of visual distraction. So, the times I do sit at the home computer (not very often), my visuals go blurry. It's like I'm going thru a maze trying to find a particular icon or even a key on the keyboard that he purchased not too long ago. Sometimes he does have to show me where a particular program is located because all I can see is a swirl of blue fuzziness and then it's like I'm mesmerized.
If I'm able to do something physically on the computer, more than a couple times (with or without DH's help), then chances are better that I "might" be able to remember. Some semblance of order comes to mind for me but it's like if someone moves a piece of furniture around in a room and I get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, chances are pretty good that I'll end up stubbing my toe.
If DH gets a new computer, I'm s c r #$%d By the time, I get "used" to things, they get changed.
This is partially a rant, but also an honest question. How do you get people to learn to help themselves?
There are many discussions here on CD about what makes people smart or dumb; successful or failures. Usually people try to relate this question to the all encompassing CD catch alls of "liberal or conservative", the equally condescending "rich or poor", and who can forget the other CD favorite "Black or White." I think it crosses all these classes and comes down to one thing. Those who read vs. those who do not.
As a person in the community who is known to be a computer professional, I get calls from friends (and friends of friends) who ask for help solving some problem on their computer. Most of the time it should be a simple 5 minute Q&A and they should be on their way. For Example, trying to get someone to do a print screen, paste it to paint, and send it to me. More and more, I find that it takes hours for me to explain these simple things because they don't know what "print screen means", they don't know how to paste into a document, and they don't know how to save to another folder - or find the saved file from the mail attachment dialog. I usually have to give in and go fix the problem for them, or send them to the local geek squad if they are located too far away.
I tell most of these folks that the problems they are having are happening because they do not know how to use their computer and that they need to take time to learn them better. I suggest that they go get a copy of "Windows for Dummies" or the "Idiots guide to Window." (This really extends to almost any subject and not just computers.) "Read the book, and if there is anything you don't understand call me and I will explain it to you."
I tell them that they would be able to solve their problems on their own - or that it would just take a few minutes on the phone for me to explain things if they would just learn the basics -- if they just get and read these books. But A few months later, they will call again with the same or a similar problem. When I ask them if they got a copy of the book I suggested, "what book" is usually the answer. This will repeat over and over until either they get frustrated with me telling them to read, or I tell them "Sorry, I can't help you with that."
I find this to be the same for many of my friends and it does not really matter what their background is. And it really doesn't matter if we are talking about computers, cars, home repair, woodworking, or gardening.
What is it that makes it so difficult or undesirable for people to get a book and read. I know that many people would rather just ask someone else to fix their problems for them, but how do we get more Americans to just read?
Do we need a PSA, that says "Most of the solutions to your problems are in a book?"
Instead of just teaching reading and math, should we have kids spend a lot of time in a class devoted simply to RESEARCH?
How do you get people to read?
You talk about a lot of things here. I'm going to address the "fix my computer" then will attempt to answer your question about how to read.
1. I worked in IT for my career. My partner was in very different fields. While she has improved many-fold with computer issues, there are basic things she needs to do maybe once or twice every
many years (like screen print). If she doesn't know the term or know enough to give a description for what she needs, I can't expect her to do anything but show me. I also can't expect her to look it up on the internet. Examples: 1) Her computer screen froze recently. Tabs were clickable but nothing
worked. She told me what was happening. Ultimately, I had to do a force quit on a specific browser.
Not in her realm of knowing when this can be done she knew her screen was "frozen" and that's good enough for me. 2) Debugging mode was turned on on a forum she monitors. She had no clue what all that junk was. She got me and I thought, "This is great!" I told her what button to click to turn it off. 3) I backed up her hard drive on an external device. The device failed. I would not expect her to understand. I learned what I did over a lifetime and different devices and doing what I could on our computers to keep them running.
2. How do you get people to read? I don't know that you can. 1) A severely dyslexic person will likely not want to read much. 2) My eyes are a bit buggy and while an avid reader for 99% of my life, that just is not part of who I am now. 3) You can lead a person to classic comics, "The Little Prince," and other material but you can't make them read.
3. Math and reading aren't the only classes taught. The focus is to be produce people
who can do well in testing. With so many cutbacks, you want to introduce a new class on researching.
Researching what? Who's going to come up with the money for teachers to even do this in an era of cutbacks?
i think some people just don't know how to read. I got one boss at my company, In an engineering company that cannot read, at all. He listens, he talks to people, but he can't turn on a computer at all. He claims, he left his glasses at home, or he has a headache. He been there twenty years.
His son told me at xmas party, he can't read at all. Not medical, he just never learned
Yes, everything I read now is on a screen, because I can enlarge the print easily, and I'm not limited to what is available in large print books. Sorry if that offends you. E-readers are the best thing that ever happened to this avid autodidact. Without one, I wouldn't read much at all, because, thanks to retinal disease, I can no longer see well enough to handle most printed books. I love audio books, too.
Last edited by randomparent; 02-02-2015 at 09:33 AM..
Your last sentence says it all. I don't go that far! I believe I've heard various versions of, "Wait until it comes out in a xxx (movie, VHS, DVD)," most of my life.
As a former librarian, this issue drove me crazy. But, OP, I think the explanation for the issue you are describing is that people have different learning styles that work with the way their brains are configured.
For OP and me, we learn visually - by reading and seeing. Many people, though, can only learn kinetically (by physically doing things). Adults in particular tend to learn best experientially - by doing things which they can relate to other information which they have gained over their lifetime. Some people learn aurally - by hearing information. Most of our schools and universities base their teaching on aural learning - but the fewest people in the world can learn this way. (I'm so completely non-aural that you can tell me how to do anything under the sun, but if I can't read instructions or see something done in front of me, I won't remember or understand what you've said.)
So this kind of explains why many older adults have a hard time figuring out computer stuff - they basically lack context (which helps people to learn). As people age kinetic teaching becomes the best style for them.
Whoo, I read the above and think that I explained it so badly! But it is an interetsing topic, for those of you who are interested. There are a lot of books and websites about learning styles. Here's a website I found quickly on-line: Overview of learning styles. Many years ago I came to discover Learning Styles by finding books by one of the godfathers of adult education, Malcolm Knowles.
There's a whole other side to people not reading, and it is related to class differences in America. Some people from low education level families tend to despise or feel intimidated by others who they believe feel "better than" them, so they claim pride in their own lifestyles. It is these people who are proud to say "I don't read", or "I don't have time to read." I was a librarian in a very blue collar community and it was SO common to hear kids say "I don't like to read" and their parents would just laugh, and would not make the slightest effort to take advantage of free activities at the library. They'd just come in to play on the computers or check out videos/dvds. So depressing.
I'm a visual learner, too. I cannot remember how many times I was taking notes in class in college and some doofus told me to put down my pen and "just listen." I just kept taking my notes - great notes, by the way. Just writing it down seems to imprint it for me. For example, if I write down a shopping list I can often remember what is on it even if I forget to take it with me to the store.
As to why many people do not read, especially technical material, they can't. They never learned how. Thirty two million American adults (14%) cannot read, another 21% read below a fifth grade level, and 19% of high school graduates cannot read.
Anything about computers is likely to be out of reach of a significant portion of adult Americans. In addition, as others have noted, much of what you find about computers in books and on the internet is poorly written and confusing and assumes some level of pre-existing expertise. On the internet, many web sites also are commercially oriented and want to sell you something. I really have low confidence in my ability to discern good information from bad on such sites. Like others, I tend to punt to my more knowledgeable DS.
DH and I are both readers, and like toobusytoday, we both get antsy with nothing to read. He was standing in front of the bathroom sink last night finishing the last few pages of a book as we got ready for bed.
I think how-to You Tube videos are often useful ways to learn how to do hands-on things, though. Sometimes a few pictures are better than many words.
This is partially a rant, but also an honest question. How do you get people to learn to help themselves?
There are many discussions here on CD about what makes people smart or dumb; successful or failures. Usually people try to relate this question to the all encompassing CD catch alls of "liberal or conservative", the equally condescending "rich or poor", and who can forget the other CD favorite "Black or White." I think it crosses all these classes and comes down to one thing. Those who read vs. those who do not.
As a person in the community who is known to be a computer professional, I get calls from friends (and friends of friends) who ask for help solving some problem on their computer. Most of the time it should be a simple 5 minute Q&A and they should be on their way. For Example, trying to get someone to do a print screen, paste it to paint, and send it to me. More and more, I find that it takes hours for me to explain these simple things because they don't know what "print screen means", they don't know how to paste into a document, and they don't know how to save to another folder - or find the saved file from the mail attachment dialog. I usually have to give in and go fix the problem for them, or send them to the local geek squad if they are located too far away.
I tell most of these folks that the problems they are having are happening because they do not know how to use their computer and that they need to take time to learn them better. I suggest that they go get a copy of "Windows for Dummies" or the "Idiots guide to Window." (This really extends to almost any subject and not just computers.) "Read the book, and if there is anything you don't understand call me and I will explain it to you."
I tell them that they would be able to solve their problems on their own - or that it would just take a few minutes on the phone for me to explain things if they would just learn the basics -- if they just get and read these books. But A few months later, they will call again with the same or a similar problem. When I ask them if they got a copy of the book I suggested, "what book" is usually the answer. This will repeat over and over until either they get frustrated with me telling them to read, or I tell them "Sorry, I can't help you with that."
I find this to be the same for many of my friends and it does not really matter what their background is. And it really doesn't matter if we are talking about computers, cars, home repair, woodworking, or gardening.
What is it that makes it so difficult or undesirable for people to get a book and read. I know that many people would rather just ask someone else to fix their problems for them, but how do we get more Americans to just read?
Do we need a PSA, that says "Most of the solutions to your problems are in a book?"
Instead of just teaching reading and math, should we have kids spend a lot of time in a class devoted simply to RESEARCH?
How do you get people to read?
Can't really answer your question, but you need to realize that you are hearing from the helpless crowd, who also happen to be very vocal. They should shut up and read. But they won't.
You won't hear from me. I'll be 70 this summer and I am building my own computer for the first time; should be done this week.
But I read. After I retired I worked all the way through "Moby Dick". That's one of those books everyone thinks they read in high school, but they didn't.
I'm not gonna sit down and read a thick book. There's nothing in the world that interests me enough to sit down for long periods of time and read endless pages about it.
I'll read long news articles that get my attention but that's about it. I physically can't sit still for long enough to read an entire book. I've tried audio books as well, but it's the same thing.
People say I have ADHD, which may be the case, but I don't personally feel at a disadvantage simply because I can't read books.
I'm with you. I can't sit for long periods not because I have ADHD but because I'm high octane. Sitting is equal to boredom for me. Why read about it when you can be out doing it. I live in a bottom line world and reading something fictitious is just a waste of time for me. That and movies are so much more fun. You can't eat popcorn and turn the pages.
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By the time, I get "used" to things, they get changed.
