Taking this away from computers and to systems, I’ve always had a terrible time with interacting with government. So much so I go very far out of my way to avoid it. Talking specifically about Australian Centrelink which is social support type things including unemployment payments. I think this applies to all large bureaucracy. It always seemed impenetrable to me, but in the waiting areas are people there are plenty of people who are experts at navigating this system because they’ve done it for a long time, to stereotype: bogans or redneck type people it’s easy to call stupid, they know all the tricks and all the scams. The govt is then designing and updating their system to foil these people, locked in a perpetual arms race in which someone like me is completely lost in the meta, spun around, chewed up and tossed aside. Powerless to an opaque system designed be experts to prevent experts taking advantage of it but in effect requiring everyone to become scamming experts or be eaten alive. I haven’t even tried in 10 years. Hugely detrimental because this learnt irrationality includes the tax department who I don’t even know what to do about any more, compounding problem.

I turned superstitious and in these terms tried to get lower and lower level. I had a bag with every piece of paperwork ever and carried it with me every time that just got bigger and bigger for no reason. Horde everything you don’t know what you’ll need. Trial and error different phrases like they had magical powers. In a way funny at the time and still funny now not counting the stress and anxiety.

When people proverbially flip a table in frustration with technology I relate it to that experience and I think it fits pretty well. To me it’s bureaucracy to them it’s tech. I’ve had good success teaching people to use tech and in tech support and in event coordination by keeping this in mind.

Here’s another: a job I had changed to a certain digital system for job orders. Don’t worry they said, what you need will be printed by your manager. I said don’t you mean to say “should” be? What are we to do if they aren’t? If printed in advance can we be assured they’re not out of date? That won’t happen they say. It did happen. Failed after a week. Leaving us to nut it out, which we did. The old system had us doing that work so in the end nothing changed but it just got more complicated because new boss wanted some fancy thing to help him with 10 employees and the few things a day we did, it wasn’t Microsoft scale or something. Technology and damn computers copped the blame from the old fellas but it wasn’t really technology was it?

Edit: sorry I’ll add one more thing, the success I mentioned was mostly about being patient and going through what happens when something goes off plan. To the person saying they ask all the time left click or right click, show them both. I did mean left click but here’s what happens when you right click. See? It doesn’t explode, a menu just pops up. So it’s no big deal if you forget. Also: here’s the steps. Repeat those steps for me. Ok now I’m going to start you from a random area of the website, you have to get back to the starting place and then do the steps. Ok now a different place. So if that little print icon isn’t where you think it’s meant to be you’re just in a different area. It goes from being a rote series of steps to a basic understanding when you demystify and strip away consequence, including the shame of being of being an international level expert at something who can’t do something society expects as basic.