Quiet Frontier

Why Technology Frustrates Us (And How to Take Back Control)

Video (20:58): A simple glitch. A flashing light. A button that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. In this video, we take a closer look at why that happens. The problem isn’t just the device or the software. It’s the loss of clarity and control that comes from interacting with systems designed to be opaque.

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Transcript

00:08.200 A few weeks ago, I got in an argument with my printer, and it was one of those things,

00:14.360 a blinking orange light going on and off on and off, don’t know why it’s happening,

00:19.040 nothing’s going to print as long as this light keeps flashing at me.

00:22.760 So eventually I got it working, but it was frustrating.

00:27.240 It was just a series of activities engaging in troubleshooting and whatnot that I just

00:34.800 didn’t have the time for, I really didn’t feel like doing.

00:38.240 And I think we’ve all been there.

00:40.560 Our flow gets interrupted, notifications come in, there’s a lot of interruptions in

00:47.360 our work process, and a lot of them are directly related to the technology we’re trying to

00:54.000 use to get our work done.

00:56.520 And it starts small a lot of time, so it’s, you know, little things build up.

01:01.560 You know, the application stops working and you have to restart it in order to get it

01:06.320 functional again.

01:07.960 You click a button, it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.

01:12.480 All of these things build up over time, and it can be draining, it can be truly draining.

01:22.240 A lot of people call this techno stress, and there’s a lot of guides out there online

01:28.480 saying, how do you manage tech, techno stress?

01:32.000 What are the things you need to do to really manage that for yourself so that you’re able

01:38.040 to better navigate through these technology challenges?

01:46.640 And what I think, it’s really not about the screens we’re looking at or about the interfaces

01:51.880 we’re using, it’s about the fact that we’ve really lost control over the things we’re

01:58.920 doing with this technology.

02:02.760 We don’t truly understand it anymore.

02:06.520 A lot of times you’ll get advice, it says, well, you know, do a digital detox, unplug

02:11.240 for a while.

02:12.320 Well, that’s great, and it’s probably a really good idea if you can do it.

02:17.280 However, it’s not realistic for most people.

02:21.000 Technology is integrated into every aspect of our lives.

02:25.920 It’s part of our livelihood, so just unplugging isn’t really an option for most people.

02:33.400 But once again, it’s that loss of control.

02:35.960 That’s where a lot of the stress we’re experiencing comes from.

02:41.680 It’s a lack of clarity in the interfaces we’re using, a perception that somehow

02:48.880 we’re the ones that are incompetent.

02:52.320 This is what happens when the tools that we’re using actually become obstacles to our forward

02:59.960 progress in trying to achieve what it is we’re trying to achieve.

03:06.000 The answer, it’s not about escaping from technology.

03:11.880 First of all, that’s not realistic.

03:14.040 And second of all, it’s probably not a choice most of us would want to make.

03:19.360 Because we, you know, technology has a lot of advantages.

03:23.240 We like the things it provides for us.

03:26.000 We like the functionality that it gives us.

03:29.560 We like the additional time that it saves for us to engage in other activities, when it

03:38.620 accomplishes that. But it doesn’t always do it.

03:42.360 So one of the problems is we have this black box problem.

03:47.400 We kind of look at software, it’s like some kind of magic trick.

03:50.640 You press a button, something happens, you press the button, maybe that something doesn’t

03:56.080 happen.

03:57.080 And this is where the problem comes in is once that occurs, once that button doesn’t

04:01.800 do what we expect it to do, we don’t feel like we have any recourse.

04:06.680 There’s nowhere to turn.

04:08.720 It just doesn’t work and we’re stopped.

04:11.200 Now our forward progress isn’t going forward anymore.

04:15.800 So an example of that, when I was building my website Quiet Frontier, I started with some

04:23.160 applications that kind of did it all for me.

04:27.080 They made it easy.

04:28.480 Here’s how you do it.

04:29.480 You just put the stuff in here and it’s all going to show up on the screen exactly as

04:34.000 you want it to.

04:35.760 And that’s great.

04:37.360 It’s really wonderful.

04:38.360 They’re very easy tools to use.

04:40.960 The problem comes in when they don’t work and there’s no explanation.

04:49.000 There’s no idea as to how to proceed now that this tool doesn’t work anymore.

04:55.980 You can read through some instructions which are often circular in nature.

05:00.480 They kind of bring you right back to where you started.

05:03.760 You can call customer service and that’s where you’re going to go through the frustration

05:08.640 of the upsell.

05:09.640 Well, buy this next product and that will enable you to have the functionality that you’re

05:15.400 looking for.

05:16.720 Well, I don’t want to keep spending money on increasing levels of support for something

05:23.280 that should work in the first place.

05:26.240 So this can lead to a significant loss of a sense of empowerment and we just feel like

05:34.920 we’re stuck.

05:36.640 So when we stop understanding the devices and the interfaces that we use every day, they

05:44.360 really do start to control us and to fix this, you don’t need to become a computer scientist.

05:52.280 You need to just pull the curtain back a little bit. Enough to see the gears turning.

05:58.960 See what’s going on inside these interfaces.

06:02.720 Anything you use, if it’s a spreadsheet, if it’s a presentation software, some sort of

06:07.800 web interface that you use on a regular basis, take some time.

06:13.840 Learn one thing, just one thing about it, about the device, about the interface, whatever it is,

06:20.480 and learn it well, integrate it into your knowledge base.

06:25.240 Take some time within these interfaces that we use, learn how the various options that

06:31.720 are available connect to each other so that you can see some kind of logical flow in

06:39.360 how they progress so that you gain a little bit of a better understanding.

06:44.600 Now granted, that’s not always going to even be possible because some of these interfaces

06:49.320 are designed to keep functionality hidden. Or, not necessarily functionality.

06:55.720 They keep the overall workflow hidden underneath layers of abstraction that are just there.

07:06.880 So it makes it a nice user experience when things work, but when they don’t work, you

07:12.040 don’t have a lot of choices.

07:14.160 So our initial reaction to this, often times it’s like, well, I must be the problem.

07:18.720 I must just not understand this stuff.

07:20.960 I don’t have enough knowledge, I don’t get it.

07:25.320 And this is what leads to that situation when we experience what’s called learned helplessness,

07:31.640 where we just feel like we can’t move forward.

07:36.920 We don’t feel empowered to take control of situations that actually we do have in our

07:45.120 control.

07:46.120 There’s a term that’s used frequently when discussing human technology interfaces.

07:54.720 It’s called choice architecture.

07:59.160 And what that term refers to is that the settings in these interfaces and devices we use,

08:06.000 they have a big impact on the choices that we actually make.

08:11.160 And that even happens when we think we’re acting autonomously, we’re actually being influenced.

08:18.280 And the less options we’re provided, the more we’re kind of funneled into a particular

08:24.640 direction or a particular way of performing the tasks or the deeds that we’re trying to

08:32.040 perform.

08:33.520 So what this really means, the problem is probably not you, you know, you’re not inept,

08:39.760 you’re not incompetent.

08:41.960 It’s the limitations that are imposed on you by the available options provided in these

08:49.640 devices and interfaces.

08:52.160 So the problem, it’s a system, it’s not the person.

08:56.560 So one of the things that can be helpful as well when you’re when you’re trying to navigate

09:03.400 through various tech devices and tech interfaces and they’re not working correctly, you have

09:11.760 to do some troubleshooting and it can be a pain.

09:15.640 Nobody really likes to troubleshoot, but sometimes it’s absolutely necessary.

09:19.840 The first question you need to ask in those situations, what changed, what changed recently

09:27.520 that could have caused a change in behavior in this application?

09:32.320 Was there a new update done?

09:34.640 That’s frequently part of the problem.

09:37.160 Was there a new setting applied?

09:39.680 Did I go into the settings and make a change and then forget I did it?

09:43.720 Maybe I’ll go back and check that.

09:45.920 These at the device itself are something malfunctioning in the device.

09:50.440 Once you find that change, finding the solution usually follows pretty quickly after that.

09:57.640 So what that helps you to do when you start taking this methodological approach to solving

10:05.320 the problem, it takes you from panic mode, anxiety mode, into investigation mode and that’s

10:14.120 a much better frame of reference for you to approach troubleshooting and trying to figure

10:19.800 things out.

10:21.320 A lot of times our default reaction, when we see something not working right on the

10:26.920 computer or on the interface, we just start to click harder, let’s press that button a

10:31.960 little bit harder or maybe a little with a little more frequency.

10:35.120 The more I press it, the more likely it is to work. Well that’s not true.

10:39.520 I think we all know instinctively that’s not true but that is the default reaction and

10:44.520 we just get more and more frustrated as it continues to not work.

10:49.200 One of the things that really is helpful in those situations, I’m not saying to walk away

10:54.760 from technology and throw all your devices away, that’s not realistic, but do walk away

11:01.320 for 60 seconds or 120 seconds or five minutes or 10 minutes, whatever it takes, step away

11:08.880 for a while.

11:11.360 Think about something else and let that solution start to stir around in your unconscious mind

11:18.680 and then when you come back, what was the last thing you did?

11:21.280 Ask yourself, what was the last thing I did going back to that idea of what changed?

11:26.800 Check out the obvious connections, is everything hooked up right?

11:31.040 Is there something unplugged?

11:33.080 Look for those obvious things that something might be wrong.

11:38.400 The idea is to approach this as a system.

11:42.840 These aren’t magic boxes.

11:45.360 These are sets of instructions and sets of instructions, particularly with technology,

11:51.960 follow very logical sequences.

11:54.160 So typically what’s happening is there’s something that has been re-sequenced in those

11:59.520 instructions and locating that requires you to take a very sequential approach to how

12:08.120 you’re solving the problem.

12:10.280 That can be very difficult to do when we have frustration and other types of emotional

12:15.400 escalation going on.

12:17.560 So the idea is to reduce that level of frustration and also reduce the decision fatigue that

12:26.040 we’re facing all the time when we’re working with these technological devices.

12:33.280 So tech isn’t magic.

12:35.880 All it is is the set of sequential instructions and finding the solution is often very possible

12:43.480 when you’re able to follow a systematic approach to troubleshooting.

12:50.480 It’s not always possible.

12:52.000 Some of the devices are developed in ways that really don’t allow you to dig very deep

12:59.040 into the troubleshooting process.

13:02.240 Again, that’s not a fault of yours.

13:05.120 That’s a fault of the system itself.

13:08.160 It was built to be opaque.

13:10.720 And when something’s built to be opaque, there’s a limited availability for you to fully

13:15.840 understand it.

13:18.720 Another thing you can do to help yourself overall with managing this techno stress that

13:23.240 we all experience, get your files organized.

13:27.720 It’s amazing how helpful that is.

13:30.000 When you go to look for something, you know where it is.

13:32.640 I was terrible about doing this for a long, long time and I can’t say I’m still great

13:38.600 at it, but I do try.

13:40.240 I do try to keep the files organized and I’m still going through some older files and

13:45.000 trying to put them into some kind of coherent order.

13:48.560 The more orderly they’ve become, the easier it’s been for me to navigate through the things

13:55.560 that I need to do on a daily basis as a part of my workflow.

13:59.600 It reduces that stress and that’s incredibly helpful.

14:05.720 Also password management’s another good one.

14:09.000 It’s amazing how many people use the same password for everything.

14:12.440 I used to do it.

14:13.600 I’ve stopped because it’s dangerous.

14:17.440 You don’t really want to be doing that.

14:19.720 So I’ve stopped doing it.

14:21.200 A password manager is invaluable because you can set up solid passwords, long passwords,

14:29.560 with lots of different characters and various things involved and you don’t have to remember

14:36.800 them.

14:37.800 The password manager is going to do that for you and you can then use the password manager

14:42.280 to log in to the various accounts and devices that you need as opposed to trying to rely

14:47.960 on your own memory.

14:50.240 That reduces stress, so that’s a huge thing.

14:56.960 Other things, the notifications we get, every application wants to show you notifications

15:01.520 about everything, they’re distracting and they also create a lot of stress, especially

15:06.600 if you’re somebody who has work applications integrated onto your personal devices.

15:13.680 Those work notifications will come up when you’re not working and they can be disruptive,

15:20.640 they can take away your peace when you’re trying to eat dinner with your family or spend

15:26.760 a little bit of quality times with your loved ones, those things will just continue to

15:33.200 drive you insane.

15:35.760 They eat at your peace because you see the notification out of the corner where your

15:39.920 eye pops up and there it is and you know it’s there.

15:43.300 You may not have read it yet but you know it’s there and now your mind is split between

15:49.320 the things that are part of your personal life and the things that are a part of your

15:53.000 work life.

15:54.720 And that can drain you so quickly, you want to get away from that.

15:59.520 So take the notifications down, if you can, take those applications off your phone or

16:05.320 your other devices, whatever it is you use because it’s not helping you, it might be helping

16:12.480 your employer because you’re responding every time you get a notification but ultimately

16:17.760 it’s draining you, it’s burning you out.

16:20.880 And if you really feel like you need to check those notifications regularly or occasionally

16:28.200 or at least kind of know what’s going on, set a time to do it and then put that thing

16:33.720 out of sight so that you’re not receiving those notifications constantly.

16:39.720 And then at that time of your choosing, not of their choosing but of your choosing, get

16:44.960 to that time, check the notifications, take care of what you need to take care of and

16:50.760 then go back to your life because that’s important.

16:55.840 It’s as important as your employer’s corporation or their startup or whatever it is they are

17:05.360 attempting to build.

17:06.800 Yeah, that’s important but it’s no more important than you having joy and peace in your

17:13.160 life.

17:14.400 So what this comes down to, it really comes down to reducing our cognitive load.

17:20.040 Getting away the things that are just eating away at us, reducing the amount of things

17:24.560 that are constantly flashing into our awareness and putting them in the background and bringing

17:32.040 the things to the front that are important to us, our families, our loved ones, our hobbies,

17:40.480 the things that really truly bring us joy, they deserve our focus.

17:46.160 So putting these other things in the background is really important.

17:50.800 It’s about managing our attention, not just the applications and the devices and the interfaces.

17:57.360 It’s about managing our attention and how we focus because that’s critical in today’s

18:05.800 really fast-paced modern society.

18:09.920 We are, it’s up to us to manage it because if we don’t, these devices will.

18:15.880 So we need to be reactive or proactive rather, not be reactive.

18:21.040 We have to stop reacting to the devices and be proactive and take control over our interactions

18:29.120 with the devices.

18:32.360 Technology is a tool.

18:34.840 It should never become the master.

18:37.880 So learn the basics, learn the basics, take back some power, ask good questions.

18:44.600 If something isn’t working right and there’s no way to understand it, ask some questions.

18:50.240 And if you have the choice and these applications are so opaque that you can’t gain a better

18:55.240 understanding, find a better application because that’s not a good way to build things.

19:01.840 It may provide a nice user experience but it doesn’t provide user understanding.

19:07.280 And that’s incredibly important.

19:10.600 Build solid habits that support you, support your family, support your well-being.

19:18.560 Not the well-being of the tech companies, not the well-being of the corporations that

19:24.520 utilize that technology, your well-being.

19:28.360 Because no one else is going to prioritize that, only you will.

19:32.160 And that’s critical.

19:34.720 So the power is still in your hands.

19:37.320 You just need to know where to look to start taking it back.

19:43.280 Thanks very much for taking some time to watch this video and spend some time with me here.

19:49.520 If these ideas resonate with you and if you’d like to see more content similar to what

19:57.200 I’m talking about here today, how empowerment and agency and self-regulation, feel free

20:06.200 to check out the website at quietfrontier.com.

20:09.520 I post a lot of writings and various videos there related to topics quite similar to this.

20:15.760 So feel free to check it out.

20:18.160 Thanks again for checking in today.

20:20.520 Take good care.