iOS 7 and the Myths of Upgrading
I’m sure iOS 7 is not going to be easy for a lot of people and I’ll even admit, when I downloaded the beta several months ago, there were some aspects that had me disappointed at first glance. There is sort of a feeling that you have no choice about whether or not to upgrade, but I want to clear that up a little bit.
Some concerns people have with iOS 7 speaks to a macroscopic issue with technology, i.e. that invariably all hardware/software evolves over time and the aesthetic manifestation of such change is arbitrary by nature. Somebody (or some company) has to make an executive decision about how a system will look and function. There is no way to please everybody, so it works by the law of averages — what’s going to work best for the most people.
Consumer technology that succeeds is always utilitarian. You can see evidence of this with companies like Alienware, a company that designs machines specifically for gamers since that’s their only market. They know that they will never be a household name like Apple because their scope is too focused.
One of my largest gripes with the 21st century is that we are not doing an honest job teaching consumers — particularly elder consumers — how to properly transition into large-scale computer implementation in daily life. It used to be, as recently as 20 years ago, that to get the most out of a computer, you would need to know how to program and have memorized a litany of line-item keyboard commands.
Consumers were given the Kool-Aid when graphical user interfaces became mainstream on Windows and Mac, making it easier for “anyone” to use a computer. Unfortunately, the technology was not — and still is not! — foolproof, and in order to get the most out of our devices, there is a certain level of tech literacy one needs to possess. It’s like having a car; the more you understand about how it works and how to maintain it, the less likely you are to have an expensive repair.
With computers and mobile devices, they don’t do just one thing [vis-a-vis drive you from point A to point B as a car would], but rather they facilitate (or try to facilitate) multiple aspects of our lives.
Technology can be a little bit misleading in that everybody expects it “just to work,” because that’s how companies like Apple sell their products. In a majority of cases, the device does “just work” and you can go on your merry way cluttering your desktop, not keeping your files organized, etc. and expecting that over the years the computer will continue to “just work.” These are the sorts of people who don’t do a lot of research or, if they do, they find the wrong sources, and feel they have to, for instance, upgrade to the latest operating system immediately.
In the case of iOS 7 you did not have to upgrade right away. It is very unfortunate that Apple, or the tech industry in general, makes customers feel that you are forced to upgrade. In a lot of cases, you are forced to upgrade because in order to run the latest version of something, it requires the latest incarnation. (See: New printer, older computer) But in key cases (like this one), it isn’t always necessary.
Eventually though, no matter what, we all have to move forward. In order to continue using technology and to rely on it, we have to agree to the “terms and conditions” of technology consumers. One of those conditions is that, by nature of scientific achievement, the world of computing grows and shifts quicker than just about any other industry. The “good ole days” of computers could refer to as little as four years ago and that gap is continually closing.
These topics are of great interest to me as I reconcile my frustrations with people who aren’t educated about technology with the reality that my generation/the industry just doesn’t do an honest job to get that education out there. We’re so thrilled to show you all the things that the devices can do — and there are MANY cool things you can do! — that we lose sight of the disclaimer that “this is not a self-repairing, self-sustaining system and you should learn a little bit about what can/will go wrong over time.”
Thoughts on this? Email me!