5 Things Common Sense Tells You About Gadgets
August 13, 2008 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Ramblings of a Gadget Geek
Whenever a sad story of gadget idiocy reaches our ears, it’s hard not to laugh. That’s because a lot of gadget problems would’ve been avoided if we all listened to our common sense. It desperately competes with effective product marketing and casual carelessness, to no avail.
Treat Your Expensive Piece of Delicate Electronics… Like an Expensive Piece of Delicate Electronics. Stop treating that new laptop like a toy! You don’t have to baby it, but casually throwing it on the bed and slamming the monitor shut with a vengeance are definite no-nos.
Suppress Your Inner Handyman. Want to waste the money you spend on warranties? How about making sure your gadget stops working properly… for good? Then open up your device at your whim, breaking the warranty seal. Play around with the innards even if you don’t have any idea of what to do. Why pay for expert repairs? You probably know more than an expert, right?
Practice Safe Gadget-Use. Kinda related to the first item, this aspect of common sense tells you to buy the appropriate protection for your gadget. And appropriate means not immediately settling for the cheapest crystal case or silicon covering you can find. There are stories of MacBooks permanently stained by the cheap stuff; do you want to be one of those unfortunate owners too?
Don’t Spend More That What You Need (Or, Look for the Most Affordable Option). So you only need to surf the web and work while out of the office, but you really want that top-of-the-line desktop replacement. Damn your credit limit and your ability to pay for a gadget! To be clear though, if you can afford what you’re buying (i.e., you have the uncommitted cash on hand to pay for the credit card bill when it comes), then by all means go ahead.
Follow the Directions (Or, When in Doubt, Ask for Help!). Damn this computer! It won’t turn on! Oh no wonder, you plugged it into a 220V wall socket, and it only needs 110V (that problem is less common nowadays, since gadgets usually adapt to whatever voltage is coming from the wall). But it’s worth not swallowing your pride to read the manual or ask for help. After all, we are all men!
Have any stories of gadget idiocy you’d like to share? How would common sense helped? Let us know through a comment!
