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   Jonty Wareing (jonty@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 27-Dec-2024 22:22:26 JST Jonty Wareing

   Family members keep saying "I need lessons" or "I'm too old for this technology" over Christmas.

   When I look at what they're struggling with it's reliably a buggy UX nightmare, and often wasn't cheap so they persist in using it.

   I don't know how we fix this. Consumer electronics is totally broken.

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     Jonty Wareing (jonty@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 27-Dec-2024 22:22:25 JST Jonty Wareing

     in reply to

     The worst thing is that people make what seems like informed choices when buying - "good" brands, expensive models, recommendations from press.

     But those rules no longer work in a world where brands change hands, software updates constantly, and the device has to be compatible with everything else you own.

     Explaining this is hard.

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     Jonty Wareing (jonty@chaos.social)'s status on Friday, 27-Dec-2024 22:22:46 JST Jonty Wareing

     in reply to

     I feel desperately sad when thinking about all the non-technical people with nobody to help them. This industry is making them feel stupid and frustrated, purely for profit reasons.

     Don't build dark patterns into your UX. Refuse. Complain. Call them out. You're actively hurting people in the world.

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     Valerie Aurora (vaurora@wandering.shop)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 18:46:25 JST Valerie Aurora

     in reply to

     • Wynke

     @wynke @jonty I have a similar oven! It technically is also a microwave, but using it requires pushing so many buttons that I bought a separate microwave that has only two physical dials. Then I bought a separate toaster because even after I reprogrammed the oven to remove one button push, it still requires pushing three buttons AND turning a dial through four different electronically displayed options to toast some f'ing bread

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     Wynke (wynke@mendeddrum.org)'s status on Saturday, 25-Jan-2025 18:46:26 JST Wynke

     in reply to

     @jonty My mother-in-law has recently bought a new oven. It is nothing special or smart or anyting beyond having oven and microwave functionality. Yet, her manual now contains a hand written page detailing what to do to, you know, use it for things aging mothers-in-law do, like baking something. It took me, with a MSc in computer science, many years of experience deciphering manuals and a life long baking hobby, an hour or so to create this page. This is beyond silly.