Do technophobes have a point with modern TVs?

Jules

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Hardcore technophobes are generally NOT stupid people. They are typically just people who don’t like technology, who have therefore probably not kept pace with our modern technologically dependent life, and now find themselves overwhelmed by what’s in front of them.

Back in 1980, everyone had access to just 3 TV stations.
Every TV in the country had a big physical power button on the front, a rotary volume dial, and a few knobs to select the station. That was it! No external inputs, nothing.
All it had on the back was an aerial input.
It was simple, and people’s expectations were low.

Fast forward to 2020, and fixing the problem of accidentally pressing the ‘input’ button on the remote control… is a nightmare for a technophobe. They ‘just want the TV to work’.
One solution might be to obtain a universal remote control, like the Logitech Harmony range…. Which can be programmed (by a techie person obviously) to turn everything on correctly, and if they get stuck they can just press the help button and it puts everything right, right?

Well what do you do when the technophobe in question doesn’t understand the intelligent remote because its ‘different’.
The buttons don’t all have the same labels as the one they’re used to, they’re in a different place, and because it has more buttons than they need, it really confuses them.
All they want is to be able to push a button on the TV and it turns on… can’t be that hard can it?
Well actually, as you know, it really is. Those 1980's TV’s don’t exist anymore… and even if they did, analogue broadcasts don’t exist either so there’d be nothing for them to tune into.
Even explaining this to a real technophobe is a bit like showing a dog a card trick!

I'm sure you've probably encountered the paper and pen routine with real technophobes as you explain how to get the TV to come on and tune to, say, BBC2.
They enthusiastically write everything down, and later find their written instructions don't work.. perhaps the TV announced it needed to 're-scan' and the user didn't know how to get passed the onscreen message. It sounds rediculous, but there are people out there struggling with this stuff, and they're not all old people.

Operating modern technology is akin to speaking a different language… you have to interact with it. There often isn’t a sequence of button presses that will yield the same result every time.
So is it unreasonable to expect someone, who has lived for 50 years without so much as turning on a computer, to be able to speak that language?
And if it is unreasonable, is it even possible to accommodate their needs in 2020?
 
Assuming we're talking about your example of an intelligent person in their 50s with no learning difficulties then it sounds akin to a genuine phobia.

They're not unable to learn, they're just unwilling to put the effort in to grasp the new concepts because of previous bad experiences.

The solution should be the same as for other phobias. Help and support in order to get over it with the result that they're able to participate in the same things as everyone else.
 
Assuming we're talking about your example of an intelligent person in their 50s with no learning difficulties then it sounds akin to a genuine phobia.
A real phobia shouldn't be ruled out, but I'm wondering if there's a genuine disability, a sort of tech related dyslexia.
Dyslexia itself wasn't recognised as a condition when I was a kid, but nowadays there are rules and regulations in place to accommodate those who suffer from it.
 
Forget modern smart TVs.
My mum used to have a 21 inch TV and I always said I'd treat her when I finished my studies and got a job
In 1996 as a surprise I bought my mum a 25 inch TV.
She only noticed the new TV when the old remote didn't work!
Got her an early One4All remote with just power, channel and volume controls.
Now my mum is nearly 80 and is constantly forwarding WhatsApp videos to me that her friends share.
When the drive to learn is there, even n OAP technophobe of a leopard can change its spots :rotfl:
 
Forget modern smart TVs.
My mum used to have a 21 inch TV and I always said I'd treat her when I finished my studies and got a job
In 1996 as a surprise I bought my mum a 25 inch TV.
She only noticed the new TV when the old remote didn't work!
Got her an early One4All remote with just power, channel and volume controls.
Now my mum is nearly 80 and is constantly forwarding WhatsApp videos to me that her friends share.
When the drive to learn is there, even n OAP technophobe of a leopard can change its spots :rotfl:
Your mum is a success story. :)
My late father tried his best, but it was all too much for him and he never really got to grips with it properly. If the TV started on the wrong input, he'd just read a book instead.
When I came to visit at weekends, I'd be treated with 'Ah, great... can you look at the TV, I think its faulty again'.
 
My Mother is technologically retarded to the extent the menu on a non-smart phone is enough to send her into a rage.

Every time I buy her anything new, this is only done as a last resort when something no longer works, we have to go through all the buttons on the remote individually, multiple times, for weeks on end.

"Yes Mother, the button with the square on it is the stop button, the same as every remote control you've had since you bought a tape deck in the 80's"

Phones, tablets, computers, not a chance. I've tried, she's been to classes, nothing. She had a cordless phone in the house but still had to use a phonebook with all her numbers in it.

I even got her internet for her room in her care home so she could share my Netflix and Amazon Prime. Never uses them, claims she does not realising I can see her playlist, which is nothing. I go to visit and try to get her to start watching something I know she'll like and push her into trying to make it work while I'm there. ....

Arguments start as she loses the rag. So I long ago gave up.

Note- She's always had a short fuse. Doesn't help.
 
I'm in agreement with the point that Jules is making that we are to, often wrongfully, deduce that techno-phobia is a marker of age. It's my belief that the technology has lost sight of producing a product, and delivering a service, that the public really want. I confess that my knowledge of the industry goes back an embarrassingly long way to a time when I worked in it actually making television sets. We have had some significant developments in television engineering along the way which have been very welcome and moved things forward. The introduction of widescreen, colour, higher definition (up to a point) and a wider range of distribution systems by satellite, cable and, to a certain extent by broadband, are all noteworthy. What is heralded as 'the way forward' today is, in my humble opinion, are increasingly just insignificant tweaks.

What has taken over is the 'marketing' aspect whereby companies are using marginal technological developments to convince punters that they should buy the latest product. This has always been the case. There was a company, a long time ago, who marketed the first 'transistor' television. Actually it had one transistor in it, the rest were valves. This kidology continues and people get home with a product that fails to live up to expectations, or they simply can't be bothered to juggle around with a multitude of key presses to make it work. They are not, in the main, stupid or phobic. The public were persuaded that 3D was the way forward only to find that the source material dwindled to practically nothing. They were similarly told that curved screens were going to be an advantage. They clearly weren't, but they did make a few bucks for the manufacturers for a while.

In order to source the wider range product that is now available some technical appreciation of the mechanics that drive them is apparently advisable. How many have the time and interest to learn such things? Why should they? I get into my car and turn the key, it gets me from A to B and that is what I require it to do. I have no interest in what goes on under the bonnet other than to provide it with fuel, and sometimes oil and water. The way the television industry has seemingly directed itself is to require people to have some apparent knowledge of things like complicated sound formats, higher definitions, bit rates, nits, refresh rates and all the other mumbo-jumbo that goes with the trade. Frankly, and I know this hurts AV Forums contributors, they just want to plug the set into the wall and the aerial, push buttons 1,2,3,4 or 5 and watch their favourite programmes. The possibility that they can get a better picture by selecting a HD alternative passes them by. UHD barely comes into it. It's really not that important. They got the biggest screen they could afford and, apart from the slight disappointment that it doesn't look quite the same as the one in Currys soon passes. If they've mastered the technology enough to tap into satellite or cable then, chances are, they will be probably be watching material that was initially made in SD or is being distributed as such. It matters not to them. If they want anything else they will trot off to HMV and buy a DVD or two. The material they watch falls well short of the tech capabilities of what they have paid for.

But technology marches on with multi-channel sound systems and their accompanying matrix's which are not universally adopted by broadcasters,and probably never will be. How many punters give space to speakers all round the room, and now in the ceiling, in the fond hope that their favourite programme or movie might be so encoded as make to the investment worthwhile? I hold my hands up to a modest 5+1 system. Customers have lost out over the years in the fundamental ability of most TV's to deliver an acceptable sound performance. Why? Well the sets got thinner, its as simple as that. OK if you want to mount them on the wall next to the Rembrandt or that you live in a telephone box and need the space. Actually it opened up a market for external speakers and amplifiers. Speakers festooned round the room was required, or convincing people that a box sometimes costing as much as the TV is going to simulate the effect. Pull the other one! Good for business, but not for the consumer. Make the cases a bit fatter and fit decent speakers and you have a product that should be more attractive.

Also find a universal system, with accompanying menu and hand controller, that accesses the multitude of channels available simply, and finds the best possible performance of what is out there. True many I'm sure rely on the Sky or Virgin handset and largely ignore the one that came with the TV. 'Keep it Simple' should be the philosophy and not 'Lets make it more complicated and 'high tech'. Take a look at reviews on sites such as Amazon and hover down the lower star reviews. Time and again it's apparent that the criticisms are not about a faulty product, but that the recipient has simply not bothered to download and read through the 150 page manual to find the right button to press. Why should they? They probably have a life! It's 2020 and we should have moved on to an easy to operate product that does what it says on 'the tin' without a lot of fuss.

After the present crisis is over I'm sure the TV industry will have to refocus itself and start making a product that meets the requirements of the many, rather than the few. Manufacturers should be catering for those who might still be financially able to buy their new TVs. They should not creating some technological mix of electronic nonsense that is largely meaningless to a greater proportion of the public but something that is fool proof and works. That's a challenge!
 
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Do I recall correctly that Apple were at one point in time contemplating manufacturing a TV (an actual TV, not a set top box) that really was simple to use?
I seam to remember they were, but cancelled the project because of too many regional variations required.

Back when Steve Jobs was around, they believed that you should be able to hand a device to 5 year old and they'd instinctively know how to operate it.
 
I think you are right Jules. It's quite a challenge and we could have had the know-how to crack it at some time in the past. I fear we are too far down the road now to hit that kind of goal and it would be difficult to get manufacturers to work together on it. Far easier to be working on punchy overblown colour technology that makes the world look like a video game or sound systems that thunder through living rooms with little connection to reality.
 

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