For most questions that you have on your mind – whether they are technical, philosophical, sexual, scientific, spiritual or social – there is one place where you should be able to find some sort of answer – the Internet.
This giant maze of information has millions and millions of stored data that any question you pose on a search engine like Google should have an answer. I have recently become so reliant on “Googling” technical questions that it has become second nature for me to just tell family and friends to Google their question about any technical matter first – than ask me.
One reason for pushing back is so I can personally save my sanity from being the technical support representative and being called for duty any place any time to solve a technical matter with an iPhone or computer.
This process is not intended to be obnoxious – which I can certainly perform with ease any time 🙂 – but my stance is intended to build an internet-search mentality within the individual that seeks to find answers on your own, without relying on others – and this search for answers is something we all must work to develop.
I feel like many of us have become an overly dependent society that seeks to find answers to common questions from others that should be probed internally first outside of the actual human-to-human interaction.
Now, let’s clarity what I mean by question. This means something that is not so open-ended or hyper-psychological – like “what is the meaning of life” or “why am I angry”. I am taking about technical questions that are not so personalized but are more mainstream such as:
- How do I send an email?
- How do I text on my iPhone?
- Where is the closest dollar store?
- How do I copy/paste text?
- What are good ways to conserve water?
Now the biggest argument against my point is that 1. some individuals don’t know how to use a computer and 2. it is my obligation to help others.
Let’s start with the second point – obligation. Yes, there is some truth to this if those individuals you are helping are close family members, but even these individuals need to demonstrate some probing and exploration first, before you come to assistance and show them where the “X” marks where the treasure can be found – and the truth is that you may not have all the answers as well.
Obligation starts if there is a struggle – meaning they are probing online, searching for solutions, perhaps asking some of their friends for help and getting no where. This is where your obligation starts and your assistance is very useful as it provides meaning behind your action – you are actually solving others people’s problems but they have also done their part to try to solve their own problems first.
Let’s now tackle point one – computer education. The basics of using a computer these days should come down to the following points – meaning all individuals should learn the fundamentals of the following:
- How to turn a computer on and off
- How to enter a user login and password (if necessary) to a computer or to unlock an iPhone
- How to use a mouse or touchpad
- How to click on an internet icon (i.e., Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Safari) to get Internet access
- How to go to a search engine of choice when on the net (i.e., Google, Bing, etc.)
- How to type (basic one finger typing is fine) an inquiry (i.e, how do I send an email?) using a search engine
- How to click on the various links based on the search engine query to find answers including clicking back and running new searches
- How to go to YouTube and run the same query as a search engine and watch videos, if available, on the question at hand
People need to learn these basic skills these days else you will be left in the dark. The thing that separates those individuals who want to learn technology and those that are reliant on others is spending the time to learn and practice the fundamentals. I have discovered that individuals who take action to write things down and practice continuously will start to exceed those that don’t. If you can just get the basics down as above you will save others a ton of time in answering your questions that you can probably solve on your own.
My simple point is this – learn to use the Internet to stimulate and turn your mind into an exploratory machine. Don’t get frustrated by technology. Technology will continuously change and you will have to learn and re-learn things you did in the past. This is how life is – never constant.
Keep probing. Don’t give up learning – and remember – if you want to learn to swim you need to throw yourself in the water.