Someone shared that quote with me back in high school. At the time it didn't really sink in. But the longer I hang out on this planet, the more I have come to realize just how true that statement is.
And NOWHERE does this ring more true than the area of high technology.
Case in point: The other day I took my brother down to the Electronics Mega Store to help him step into the wonderful world of wireless communication. My brother is a special needs kind of guy with a learning disability (think Forrest Gump). Teaching him something of this magnitude is quite an ordeal. It always reminds me of the Guard Scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Knowing I was going to be the one to train him on this newfangled device, and be full support in the future, I wanted to get him into the simplest situation I possibly could. So I had him buy a Jitterbug cell phone. You've seen the ads. They cater to senior citizens and the like, touting simplicity and value.
If a Jitterbug phone is the essence of simplicity, that means it's polar opposite must be the iPhone. One of the 'perks' of my job was a 'free' iPhone. This offer was made because they want us all to have the same communication capabilities. You know what? After one month of non stop communication all night and all weekend, I discovered the off switch to my work email. Now THERE is a great feature on Apple's Smart Phone.
Alright, so I get Big Bro the phone. Now I have to train him to use it. Of course, I have to learn how to use it myself first. This is the most counter-intuitive piece of hardware I have EVER tried to use! It is so backwards from your typical cell phone it's not even funny. It is not like a regular phone either, like the ads and propaganda will have you believe. But the thing that really got me was the documentation. Remember my iPhone? In the box? Nothing. Not even a brochure. The Jitterbug? Three (3) manuals. THREE. One of them is ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT PAGES (cap locks on)! Yes, my Brother says he read the whole thing, front to back. But he still can't make a call.
So, back to the original subject: now my Brother has a cell phone, he can carry it with him everywhere, but he can't make calls, he has to watch his minutes, I can't hear him half the time, and we occasionally get disconnected. How convenient.
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