Day 18 – Don’t Be Afraid to Press the Buttons

We are in week 2 of another Smartphones and Tablets class and I have gotten to the point where I have many of the mini speeches down on the topics that confuse and frustrate people the most.  But today, I noticed something that I haven’t noticed before.  I noticed that many people are afraid to touch the buttons if they don’t know what they do.  This seems obvious, but I mostly focus on the functions, rather than the fear behind the general uneasiness of using the device.  ‘

Since most of the “buttons” are tiny line drawing images, you can’t always tell what they represent.  My message is don’t be afraid to press the buttons. You can’t break it by pressing on the buttons you are suppose to be using.  You can get lost and frustrated.  You might even call, text or email someone you didn’t intend.  Most people will be understanding unless you happen to do it at 2am.  You probably won’t loose anything important, especially if it is a new phone and doesn’t have much on it to begin with.  In fact, doing your experimenting early on is ideal.  Every single time you press on a button that you don’t know, you learn something. So only good can come of it.

The problem you will run into, which we discuss in every class is getting “back”.  I kind of inwardly chuckle at the concept of “back”.  Because there is no front or back in the programs.  I understand people what to go to something they are familiar with, but there is no linear progression in many of the programs on your device.  If you want to go back, try clicking on the “Done” or “Cancel” button.  If you don’t see one of those try the back arrow on the bottom of Android devices or in the upper left corner of Apple devices. Or click on the home button at the bottom of the screen to exit the program completely.

Don’t be afraid to touch the buttons.