Lately I’ve been in the midst of a surge of new technology. I’ve got a new laptop, one with a pristine keyboard and new functionality and new ways to connect to my desktop monitor. We’ve also rolled out some new programs recently that I’ve been trying to use. And yesterday I had to delete and replace some apps on my phone because of weird glitches they were experiencing. It’s been tech immersion time.
Whenever new tech is involved, there are new icons to master. The top row of keys on my new laptop, for example, are all identified exclusively by icons. Fortunately, most of them are self-evident, and clearly address things like screen and keyboard brightness, airplane mode, volume controls, and a mute button–but some are squarely in unknown territory. One button has a rectangle between two lines, and another features three diamonds. Their meaning is not intuitive–to me, at least. What could three diamonds signify? Beats me, but that’s a button I’ll never touch for fear of potentially devastating unintended consequences. Its function is as much of mystery as that of the three shells in Demolition Man.
New icons also mean new reflexes need to be developed. The meaning of the new icons might be puzzled out if you can study them at your leisure, but they aren’t well-suited for a snap decision. Yesterday I was on one Teams call when I received another Teams call. I didn’t want to have the second call’s beeping interfere with the first call, but when I looked at the icon options, with the interlocking Venn diagramesque circles with red and green phone receivers, it wasn’t clear which option I should choose to disconnect the second call and proceed with the first. Alas, I choked and selected the wrong icon, rudely putting the first call on hold and moving to the second call, which required me to apologize all around.
They say that when you reach a certain age, learning a new language is a good exercise, because it builds new neural pathways, enhances mental flexibility, and might even fend off dementia. Perhaps learning the new icon language will have the same effect.
Webner House 