Saturday, December 15, 2012

How Accessible Are Modern Devices?



What would you put on a wish list for how you'd like to see modern devices change?
________

8 comments:

Claudia said...

Text size!!!!!!! And it just keeps getting smaller!! I have an old Samsung mp3 player and they have to be joking. It shows the time on the corner but its impossible to read. What do you mean elderly? I challenge anyone to read this!

caulfieldkid said...

I've actually thought about, a decent amount, how technology is adopted by different age groups.

Children just pick stuff up so fast. Maybe it's because they don't have a frame of reference to think about how something "should" work (the analog world the video talked about the elderly coming from). Maybe they aren't scared to just keep trying something. They're curious. I don't know, but I don't often have to teach my children how to use a piece of technology.

I also wonder if I'll get to a point where technology confuses me. Or will it make more sense as I get older because of the world I grew up in?

I digress. What would I change? I don't know. Fewer cords, maybe. Maybe better energy sources. I've got no real gripes on how everything actually works.

Bix said...

There are a couple things on my wish list...

One, I have to agree with Claudia here, some text on hand held devices, even on computer monitors, is just too small. And those teeny tiny radio buttons! I squint a lot. I can make some of it bigger, but then it doesn't use the space well. Maybe they're just trying to put too much on one page. Speaking of which...

Fewer ads. Or at least fewer ads that wash over the entire screen just when I've started reading, and gobble all my memory. It makes it difficult to figure out what's relevant. Although, I've recently installed Adblock which is pure gold.

Passwords. I have over a hundred passwords. They're all supposed to be different and be some lengthy combination of letters, numbers, and symbols that are nonsensical. And I'm not supposed to write them down. If ever there was a barrier to using the internet! Although, I don't have an answer.

There's another device-y thing that I have difficulty with, not on computers but cars ... the lever controls on steering wheels for lights, windshield wipers and washers, turn signals, cruise control. To this day I still confuse them. Again, I don't have an answer. I mean, I'm happy enough to have a car.

I didn't want this to sound like a complaint list but, well, sure as the sky is blue ... So to wrap up I'll mention one thing that has been a boon ... cloud computing. I can get on any device anywhere and access my documents. Joy.

Bix said...

Interesting point about how children pick up technology. I've seen it too, how they play video games as if it's all an extension of their body. It's something else. I often think about how they're developing differently because of technology. How does it change their interactions and relationships, the way they think about themselves. How does it change their bodies? Do they process information differently? Big topic.

Angela and Melinda said...

Is Adblock free?

Bix said...

Adblock is free:

http://adblockplus.org/en/

It's an extension to your browser ... Firefox or Chrome.

I love watching how these things evolve. As ads become more penetrable, blocks also become more effective. I read somewhere that in a few years, browsers (worth their salt) will just come packaged with ad blocking software. What's an ad to do?

Margarita said...

I would love to share my peeve (yes, it IS a peeve) but I will probably be dissuaded by the peeve itself... That is, if one of those impossible to decipher codes comes up that I have to type in to prove I'm not a robot. I can never make them out with my varifocals, so I just grumble and mutter and mooch away.
Ho hum.

Bix said...

LOL!