Computer Support -- Who needs it?
One way computers, and related technology items, are introduced to new users is someone saying, “Go ahead, play around with it. You can’t break it.” While this statement is true, it unfortunately gives many people the impression they should be able to figure out anything about technology products by themselves. After all, they “can’t break it.”
The main problem is that although the user may not break anything, it could take hours to figure out how to do something. Numerous users have contacted Simplicity Force with problems they have been experiencing for weeks, and the advisor was able to solve the problem in less than five minutes over the phone. Is the frustration worth five dollars?
Another problem is that users may develop a way of doing things that works based on their trial and error experience that may be inefficient or harmful. As an extreme example, a user once double spaced his document by pressing ENTER twice at the end of every line. This did, in most cases, create a double-spaced document, but many of the advantages of the word processor were lost because of this lack of knowledge. With the rise of security threats, making a mistake while on-line could actually be harmful.
This is not to say that most users are unable to operate a computer without assistance or training, but when a situation arises when it is not clear what to do next, the best thing may be to seek assistance. There is nothing wrong with asking for a little help.