Paradox of the Active User

[This is a post of mine from a now-defunct blog, used here as a test post. ~ Ed. 08-20-2008]

Interesting post at Signal vs. Noise, bringing together some ideas about how people use technology… versus how they perceive they will use technology.

I am the active user, all the way. The one manual I usually sit down and read through end to end is always my cell phone manual — yet, I could not be arsed to do so with my Blackberry. Or my iPod, which I’ve had for years and only just learned how to charge last week (previous charging technique involved handing it to husband with helpless “I’m just a girl” eyes).

I feel a tiny twinge of guilt every time I sit down at a computer, knowing that there are tools and features inside that will make my life better and my work more productive… but I can’t be arsed to find them.

Just today, I opened Photoshop, and the starter tutorial window popped up. It’s been popping up since I installed CS, you see… and it looks really cool and like something I should take the time to sit through. Just don’t have the time right now… but I don’t want to forget it forever, either. So instead of toggling “Do Not Show This Message Again,” I allow it to pop up every time I open Photoshop, and then I feel the guilt, close the window and move on.

This can sometimes be an hourly ritual.

I want to be the ideal user. But I simply never will be.

What’s helpful for me personally is, not to think about manuals and documentation again (no offense, Jette! I love documentation! I do! But it’s not my piece.), but to realize that here in this old IBM study is a notion that is helpful to anyone who needs to know how customers think.

There’s the way people behave, and the way people aspire to behave; the twain might never meet… and we need to be ever-cognizant and respond accordingly.