darkoshi: (Default)
Darkoshi ([personal profile] darkoshi) wrote2009-09-19 09:33 am
Entry tags:

RTFM

I've been noticing that complex instructions are putting me off more than they used to. If I'm trying to figure out how to do something, and if the instructions mention more than a few steps, each of which mentions other things which I don't understand and would have to read/learn more to make sense of, I start feeling a sense of dread*, and that it's not worth all the trouble to study so much just to figure out how to do what should be a simple thing. I get annoyed, thinking that surely there's an easier explanation; or a simpler way of getting the result I want; why can't they explain that, or why isn't it just intuitive to begin with?

It's as if I'm turning into one of those people who isn't willing to just RTFM. It always somewhat annoyed me when Forestfen would ask me how to use her new digital camera or digital navigator or what-have-you, when she had an instruction manual which she hadn't even bothered to take the time to read. But now it seems that I'm starting to become like her in that regard.

The dread seems to be related to a fear that even if I do read all the complex instructions, I still won't understand... a fear of not being smart enough to easily learn whatever it is that needs to be learned, as well as a laziness of not wanting to have to expend much mental effort. I don't remember feeling this way when I was younger; I had more confidence that I could understand anything, no matter how complex, as long as it was explained logically.

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