Computers can waste our time
26/07/09 07:51 Filed in: Computer
I don’t often venture into commenting on non-fitness matters. But this is too good a chance. Bill Gates was rightly honoured on Saturday for his charity work. The Microsoft chairman who has sought to drive a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home, was quoted by AFP as saying that the information technology revolution had been "hugely beneficial" and that "All these tools of tech waste our time if we're not careful."
What does this have to do with fitness? I wonder how many people have wasted hours of their lives because they had problems with their computer’s software? Which operating system and applications would that be? I can’t believe that’s how it was meant to be. So be a hero Mr Gates, and have your company develop an operating system which “just works.” Everything should be clean and inline, and that means a simpler interface or “user experience”. Users shouldn’t need a hundred page list of keyboard shortcuts to avoid having to use the mouse for everything.
Back to fitness. Everybody’s busy in front of their computers and what do they do? They get frustrated, and that’s a sure way to drive them to eat “comfort food”. When our minds are very active our brain think that the rest of the body must be as well, and it craves carbs. So off we go and grab some munchies. And when we eat them, we step onto the treadmill of overeating. Except that we’re sitting still in front of a computer. Worse yet, some of us end up doing that for hours on end in offices where the desks were designed for writing, not keyboarding. So we all develop a characteristic “forward stoop” head and neck position. Or maybe carpal tunnel syndrome. Or “computer elbow”.
So Mr Gates, be a hero. Why not make life better for the millions (billions?) of people who use your products. Remove some of their frustration. If anybody can, you can. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Let’s have an OS that truly “can help you more safely and easily accomplish your favorite things”. [Quote from Windows Vista Home Page] I note that the first adjective in this statement is “safely”.
I’m from the BC generation. That’s before computers, or even before calculators. We used log tables and slide rules at school. There were mechanical calculators and electro-mechanical ones, and then came the first electronic ones with “numicator” displays like the Anita followed by the first CRT ones like the Friden, and on to the first LED one from Japan. We “punched” information into computers with punched paper tape or card decks. Eventually - while some computers still had vacuum tubes - we got the first “dumb terminals” which could even display primitive graphics and so the early “pong”, “space war” and lunar landing games! So yes, I’m always hopeful that things will get better. Maybe Windows 7 will be better. But we still need to get away from sitting in front of a “tube” and back to the real world where our bodies need exercise!
If you “bing” Windows Vista, you get these consecutive results. Awesome!:
Back to fitness. Everybody’s busy in front of their computers and what do they do? They get frustrated, and that’s a sure way to drive them to eat “comfort food”. When our minds are very active our brain think that the rest of the body must be as well, and it craves carbs. So off we go and grab some munchies. And when we eat them, we step onto the treadmill of overeating. Except that we’re sitting still in front of a computer. Worse yet, some of us end up doing that for hours on end in offices where the desks were designed for writing, not keyboarding. So we all develop a characteristic “forward stoop” head and neck position. Or maybe carpal tunnel syndrome. Or “computer elbow”.
So Mr Gates, be a hero. Why not make life better for the millions (billions?) of people who use your products. Remove some of their frustration. If anybody can, you can. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Let’s have an OS that truly “can help you more safely and easily accomplish your favorite things”. [Quote from Windows Vista Home Page] I note that the first adjective in this statement is “safely”.
I’m from the BC generation. That’s before computers, or even before calculators. We used log tables and slide rules at school. There were mechanical calculators and electro-mechanical ones, and then came the first electronic ones with “numicator” displays like the Anita followed by the first CRT ones like the Friden, and on to the first LED one from Japan. We “punched” information into computers with punched paper tape or card decks. Eventually - while some computers still had vacuum tubes - we got the first “dumb terminals” which could even display primitive graphics and so the early “pong”, “space war” and lunar landing games! So yes, I’m always hopeful that things will get better. Maybe Windows 7 will be better. But we still need to get away from sitting in front of a “tube” and back to the real world where our bodies need exercise!
If you “bing” Windows Vista, you get these consecutive results. Awesome!:
0 Comments
