Annoying People asking for computer help

[mamamia88]

How do you deal with someone who asks you for help with the most mundane computer tasks that you've shown them how to do countless times before? Everything I know about computers I've learned by fooling around with them. Try looking around for 30 seconds and see if you can figure it out for yourself before asking me. Most of the time the answer is in plain sight. I swear some people would ask me how to open the internet if i made a desktop background in gimp that had an arrow pointing to a shortcut for internet explorer and the words click this to open the internet and still wouldn't be able to figure it out. How do you deal with this kind of stuff without snapping?

[QIII]

By not assuming that everyone will remember everything they've been told because they have a lot of other things they've been told to attend to.

Most people don't live for this. They use the machine as a tool. Sometimes they use it rarely and sometimes they simply don't get the hang of it.

Assuming that people can look up what they need assumes that they know the right questions to ask. They don't. Why? Because they aren't familiar enough to.

Many of us do a lot of googling and ask few questions here. But we know what we are looking for and what questions to ask -- because we are experienced and familiar.

[KiwiNZ]

I answer them

[futz]

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
― George Carlin

I've met quite a few people who can only learn to do stuff on the computer by rote memory. Some even write down every step - every mouse click - so they can repeat whatever it is I'm showing them again later. It's pretty funny sometimes. Other times, as you say, it's really annoying.

[Tombgeek]

I have a very special friend. He has Windows Vista installed on his laptop and the only thing he seems to understand is how to install games and double-click on the icon. Apart from that, he's useless. He called me the other day asking me how to copy files onto a flash drive. *facepalm*

I really don't mind helping people, especially older people, with any computer woes. But my friend is 18. He should have been taught this already in primary school. As far as I'm concerned, if he can install games, he should be able to copy and paste.

[alexfish]

channel knowledge constructively

a good teacher knows how learn from others

[3rdalbum]

But my friend is 18. He should have been taught this already in primary school. As far as I'm concerned, if he can install games, he should be able to copy and paste.

Kids don't get taught computing, for two reasons:

1. Some teachers don't have adequate computer knowledge to be able to teach computing, so they instead teach word processing.
2. Some schools take the attitude that "kids have grown up with computers, they already know how to use them so we don't need to teach computing."

To answer the topic starter, I lose my cool. Unfortunately. I wish I didn't, it's my girlfriend. It is frustrating to have to repeat most things twice and still have her forget 50% of what she has learnt.

She has led a sheltered life on a tropical island, and English isn't her mental language, and she has an illness that causes memory problems. It really isn't her fault she can't remember what I tell her about on the computer. But it is frustrating and makes me worried what she would do if I wasn't there.

[MG&TL]

Grind teeth, then wash, rinse, repeat.

Seconded for the school thing, I get taught word processing, not computing. Oh, and 'web design'-google sites.

Mercifully, I get my computing fix from google.

[jmore9]

I just shake my head silently and help them. Because i remember way way back when i got my first 8088 machine with 5 inch floppy drive 8 meg memory i think it was !!!!

Back then no forums to go to no internet . Just had the BBS you called on your telephone line. Oh yea we have come a long way since then. Friend of mine still has his RBBS software. Maybe we will get it going again just for kicks.

[hakermania]

I really don't have any problem helping somebody, unless it is the first and the last time of pointing out something, I'm gonna show you ONCE how to do it, then learn it yourself, ask something else and I will be happy to answer. But don't ask the same thing twice.