All they need is exposure

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Every technology begins with some dream. A wild imagination of a dreamer becomes the birth point of any invention.

When an idea is conceived it is difficult to understand. Something that our eyes has never seen is not easily understandable, is it? There are many whats, whys and hows are attached to it.

Explaining verbally something that has never been observed and witnessed is an strenuous task. And why it shouldn’t be. Firstly, it is hard to believe. Even if we believe the existence of such things, how it looks like needs some visible or imaginable presentation.

The other day, I was watching a drama displaying the time of late nineteenth century. A man is told about an invention using which one person could communicate to another person over distances of thousand miles. (I hope you got it. He was told about telephone) The person mocks at the teller in response. He thinks that the person wants to test his intelligence and so telling him about existence of fantasies.

When telephone was a new and uncommon invention, it surely would be an unbelievable thing for many. However, when it arrived in people’s hands, no fantasy was left in it. It became an easily usable device for every day life.

Same is the case with smartphones. Had we been told about smartphones before their arrival, it would be difficult to understand their scope and functioning.

Nevertheless, smart phones being the most common device of the present era are no longer arduous to use or understand. Even a one-year-old, who has no educational background, knows how to operate it.

My nephew who was a little above one year recognized the YouTube icon. He would touch it to start the videos. He knew about the existence of pattern lock (He tried different patterns to unlock the mobile).

Also, he knew about fingerprint detector both on the screen and the back of the device. (He would often touch those places to let the device open)

How that young a child, who even hasn’t started talking yet, knows the method of operating the technology. The answer is simple. Exposure. The more is the exposure to something , the more we become familiar to it. The things start making sense easily when the product is at your disposal.

If that small a kid may learn to use smartphones without any explanatory lessons, it is not a big deal to give an elderly the knowledge of this device.

With time the device is becoming more and more sophisticated. With its user friendly features, smart phones are easier to adapt.

For explaining the use of smartphones to a person belonging to 60s all we need to do is to hand them a device in their hands.

Tell them about the apps and their purpose. Show them the icons of various apps. Such as YouTube is for watching videos, WhatsApp is for audio and video communication, play store is for downloading new apps, google is for searching anything, etc. Etc.

The google assistant and other voice search feature present in today’s smartphones has created the ease of next level. This is something that elderly may use for their convenience.

My mother-in-law belongs to 1960s. She bought a smartphone about an year ago. She knows how to make audio and video calls on WhatsApp. She knows how to receive and share images. She knows how to open Facebook and watch videos of her choice on YouTube.

Nobody spent hard time explaining her all the usage. Whatever she wants to know, it is explained once. Then she is good to go.

So the point is that there is no longer a need of giving explanation about the smartphone to a person belonging to 1960s. Just give them one in her/his hands and s/he will know.

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This is my participation for Hive Learner’s featured contest post.
The prompt is:

If you were to describe what a smartphone is to someone from the 60s, how will you do that? How will you tell it to them in the way they would understand clearly? Please share with us.