# Why do people do this? (Computer related) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464 "2009-02-12T01:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/41 "2009-02-12T21:12:52Z")
I have a different theory than most. I think this has absolutely nothing to do with computers. In the days before computers, some people would never attempt to open their car hood, take the back off a radio, or remove the cover from a light switch. Some people have an insatiable need to understand how things work, and some people just want the damn things to work. This does not necessarily correlate to intelligence or sex but computer programmers and mechanical engineers tend to love to continue to learn about things and know how they work. Part of that learning is poking around to figure it out. Other people get no sense of accomplishment from that and see it as a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/42 "2009-02-12T21:25:27Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have a different theory than most. I think this has absolutely nothing to do with computers. In the days before computers, some people would never attempt to open their car hood, take the back off a radio, or remove the cover from a light switch. > > Some people have an insatiable need to understand how things work, and some people just want the damn things to work. I think this is an oversimplification. It’s entirely possible to be very interested in how _some_ things work, but not other things. I’ve certainly known astronomers who were very interested in figuring out the universe, but when it came time to use their computers to help them do that, they wanted them to Just Work. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/43 "2009-02-12T21:45:11Z")
Sounds like it was more an issue of the way you phrased your responses with a lack of confidence than anything on their end. They wanted a definite answer. You answered with “I think X, but I’m not sure.” which just isn’t as satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/44 "2009-02-12T22:18:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Don’t keep us in suspense - what book was it? > > Regards, > Shodan I suppose it would be too much to hope for that it would have been Lewis Carroll’s _Alice in Wonderland_? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/45 "2009-02-13T00:46:59Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Sounds like it was more an issue of the way you phrased your responses with a lack of confidence than anything on their end. They wanted a definite answer. You answered with “I think X, but I’m not sure.” which just isn’t as satisfying. But again, there’s that weird need for “I must know beyond any possible doubt that this will work perfectly, or else I won’t try it,” which I just don’t understand. Clearly, if you’re asking someone how to do something you think they might know, and neither my boss nor my mother has any reason to assume I’d intentionally mislead them, so why not try what I suggest trying? ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/46 "2009-02-13T01:17:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I suppose it would be too much to hope for that it would have been Lewis Carroll’s _Alice in Wonderland_? I’ve often thought that modern computer keyboards needed “DRINK ME” and “EAT ME” keys. I imagine the latter would be especially useful. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/47 "2009-02-13T01:17:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, it would be nice if help were better about this, but note that it’s not limited to automated help. Anyone who’s worked in tech support can tell you stories about how someone calls in with the stated problem of “my email won’t work”, and the resolution ends up being something like the computer’s not plugged in. People tend to be goal-driven, so we focus on what we want to do, rather than what’s actually keeping us from doing it. But the way to troubleshoot something is to figure out what’s standing in the way and resolve that. So the natural human perspective is somewhat at odds with efficient problem solving. Another part of the problem is jargon. Words and phrases in Computerese don’t necessarily mean the same thing as they do in non Computerese. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/48 "2009-02-13T01:27:08Z")
I read an article the other day about how some people seem to have a talent for programming and others don’t. The main difference between the people who can handle programming and those who can’t is that the people who can build consistent models of how systems work - even if their model isn’t correct. The people who can’t use different models for each problem. > **[Comfort with meaninglessness the key to good programmers | Boing Boing](https://boingboing.net/2008/12/12/comfort-with-meaning.html)** > > Ed. Note: Boing Boing’s current guestblogger Clay Shirky is the author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. He teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications… ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/49 "2009-02-13T01:36:20Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Another part of the problem is jargon. Words and phrases in Computerese don’t necessarily mean the same thing as they do in non Computerese. …And even then, there’s different dialects of Computerese and then we have to bash out what a term might mean in a given dialect and tell the user that “Fnord” doesn’t mean what you think it means if you’re doing XYZ. Yes, our heads hurt too. 😛 This jargon also makes it harder to troubleshoot, especially if the user is someone who’s resistant to picking up the vocabulary even if we’ve troubleshot the exact same problem many times before. You might think it sounds cute to say “the computer went ‘weh?’,” but to me it just raises my blood pressure because I know that is not going to be a favorable sign for troubleshooting. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/50 "2009-02-13T03:07:11Z")
Heh. Usually, my calls to Tech Support start off with “I can’t get online. I’ve already rebooted my computer and unplugged and replugged in my modem (X number) times.” Then we go on from there. Please note that I don’t say that the internet isn’t working. My main problem with the jargon is that it changes more rapidly than I can memorize it. However, it is a tiny consolation to know that the techs’ heads hurt too. Except when the tech in question is my daughter. As to why I don’t call HER up…she’s tech support for a kind of commercial software, and I’m not a government agency, and that’s who uses the software she supports. I think that this is the place where I whine about not being able to copy a small image several times over onto a single page, so I can print it out on ONE PAGE, cut out the images, and paste the resulting “Professor Bodoni’s Dried Frog Pills” emblem on various tins and jars full of green Jelly Belly beans. The emblem has an image in it, which is why I need to copy it in MSPaint. I’ve tried clicking on the buttons, I’ve tried reading the help index and articles, I’ve tried Googling for help. I know it can be done, because my daughter’s done it with other images, but I don’t remember how SHE did it. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/51 "2009-02-13T03:35:00Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > I read an article the other day about how some people seem to have a talent for programming and others don’t. The main difference between the people who can handle programming and those who can’t is that the people who can build consistent models of how systems work - even if their model isn’t correct. The people who can’t use different models for each problem. > > [Boing Boing - A Directory of Mostly Wonderful Things](http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/12/comfort-with-meaning.html) Is there an answer to that problem? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/52 "2009-02-13T03:38:06Z")
I think these compilliterates don’t actually understand how anything they do works. They just have a canned series of actions that produce a certain outcome that they somehow learned. Anything that varies from that by a whisker spooks them. It doesn’t matter if you show them how to do it with half the actions - that’s different and not what they’ve learned. The change from Windows 98 to ME spooked my father so much he’s basically not used a computer since. There was this mental barrier that “things were different” and he just could not get past it. In his case this came with getting to a certain age where all mental flexibility just vanished (along with rational and critical thinking) within a couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/53 "2009-02-13T14:48:38Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > The change from Windows 98 to ME spooked my father so much he’s basically not used a computer since. Understandable. ME _terrified_ me! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464/54 "2009-02-14T03:28:23Z")
I think it is somewhat reasonable to be afraid of breaking a computer by pushing the wrong button. This is based on a somewhat loose interpretation of what it means to break something. But it is certainly possible to do enough harm that it takes days or weeks to fix, with just a single move. I bumped the mouse on a Sun Sparcstation about 15 years ago when I was moving something on my desk, and accomplished a click-and-drag that moved a directory in one Explorer-like view into another directory that was a subdirectory of the first. And the directory I moved was my master project directory that contained all my data files for all my projects. The machine started furiously copying and nesting things, with thousands of files involved, and got them many layers deep most of which were alternating directory names. It was somewhat difficult to figure out how to interrupt the whole process (something about piping a process query to a grep command to a kill command), and it did take weeks to straighten things out. When something seems to be going wrong on a computer, usually it’s seconds or minutes to straighten it out, but there is no guarantee it will ever be fixable. An IT fellow who always seemed very capable, bright, and hardworking tried on-and-off to get my office PC to print to the network HP Laserjet printer two doors down the hall, for five years. Five years. I always had to print to the expensive dye sub printer in the next wing when I was printing out 70 page black and white documents. He never got it to work. So, I think it depends on people’s experiences. It also depends on what they want to get involved in. Some people like to fix their own cars, some like to do their own taxes, some people even like doing drywall. Well, I’ve heard it happens, anyway. There are many ways of being good at computers and being weak with them. Even somebody who, shipwrecked on a desert island with nothing but a tube of Z90’s and a torn copy of K&R, could build a satellite internet uplink, might not be able to install Zone Alarm. I know I spent a couple of days trying to no avail, and I actually did design a simple Z80 computer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-do-this-computer-related/485464.md?page=2)