Try Things!

By Shlomo Maital   

    Ever wonder why young people, especially very young people, are so competent at tech —  operating computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.?

    The famous ‘hole in the wall’ experiment in India offers a clue. A researcher put touch screens into a wall in a very poor slum neighborhood in India…and children showed up to mess with them.  They knew no English…yet in short order had hacked the computers and done amazing things with them. 

      Why?

        They were fearless, and just…  tried things. Until something worked.

        There is a lesson here.  We older folks tend to do things the way we always have done… and with tech devices, get stuck —  and in despair, give up.  Especially when the devices are designed by 22 year old tech whizzes, for whom technical complexity is simplicity distilled!

        I have found that watching my grandchildren and imitating them can be helpful.  Stuck?  Baffled?  Try things!  And not just with tech devices.  Everything.  Including family squabbles and dilemmas.  Old stuff doesn’t work?  Try something different.

       This works with life in general. Try different kinds of music. Food.  Books.   TV programs.  Variety is not only the spiece of life, it IS life! 

        Stuck?  Try things.  See if it works for you!