Thoughts on Tech

Sorry, I thought you wanted to know

It's a common mistake. Someone complains about something tech-related and you assume they want a solution. They often don't. They'd rather suffer and complain than do anything about it. Ads on Youtube — people complain, but they don't really want solutions because the solution requires them to do something they regard as funky or controversial, like install another browser or ditch the Youtube app. Most people, sadly, go with the defaults because they think they might be breaking their phone if they don't. I never see Youtube ads and don't log in. It's a mindset thing. People on computers tinker and explore; people on smartphones think installing a browser is beyond the pale, never mind the sacrilgious act of deleting the Youtube app. To some, that's like deleting Youtube from their phone. The idea that you could simply access it through a browser you've downloaded is beyond them for the most part.

"The trouble is they're not scoring goals. You can't win football matches if you don't score goals." It's pithy, and true.

"They're not the same team without [insert name of player]." Again, this is unarguable.

"The Premiership is all about consistency. It's a marathon, not a sprint." Indeed it is.

"You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs." Can't argue with that.

"It doesn't matter about their leaky defence so long as they're scoring more goals than the other team." Very true.

"It doesn't matter how good your business thinks it is. Most of your staff are, by definition, average." Certainly helps to keep the wage bill down.

"We are where we are." Course we are.

"It is what it is." Course it is.

"We're in business to make a profit." Really! I'm shocked.

"There's no point banging our heads against a brick wall." I quite agree.

"We can't turn back time." No, we can't.

So why do people do this? What's the point? Meaningless participation is one reason. You're there; you're expected to speak; so say something obvious and uncontroversial. It's also about managing emotion, not adding anything informative.

"We can't go back in time." really means: "Let's stop talking about what went wrong. We're not going to address the underlying issue."