I just talked to a neighbour of mine over the phone. She had a computer crash this morning, and basically panicked. Now as I talk to her I notice one thing that I’ve noticed over and over again. Most non-technical people are actually afraid of computers.
Now she knows the best practices. Regular backups, anti-virus regularly updated, anti-phishing filters activated. Still she refuses to download anything on the laptop, even Spotify was a hard sell apparently. Out of one thing, she doesn’t want anything to happen to the computer.
How do I ease the anxiety she feels when she is using her computer?
The amount of stress a computer can cause on a non-technical person is horrifying, and is something we should keep in mind when designing software.
A good user interface is a user interface your mother can use, without stress.
note: the person in the blog post is not my mother, but could very well be.SFUI = Stress free User Interface!
#1 by Anna Forss on September 5, 2009 - 07:53
I think this is the case with all the stuff we turn dependent on during our lives but really don’t understand. For us, being brought up with electricity and phones, we don’t even question how and why it works. We’re simply accept what it works and sometimes don’t work. But for the first generations, into which electricity was introduced, they felt the same kind of fear. In some cases this fear becomes such a stress factor that they starts feeling an allergic.
The coming generations will not question computers since they are just one more of the stuff we need and don’t understand how they work.
But I agree, UI should help and not scare users. I think the more colorful and playful systems we see today are a way to decrease anxiety.
Here is a good tips for non technical people so that they understand that techies are not afraid of the pick at random option and google stuff they don’t grasp
http://www.thekramers.net/wordpress/index.php/20090828/you-too-can-do-tech-support/