The Dangers of Not Reading Instructions
Not reading instructions wastes more time than it saves and sometimes, it KILLS!
--
Reading instructions and understanding them saves time, stress, and frustration. It minimizes the possibility of screwing something up or making something worse while trying to fix it.
According to Engadted.com, Americans don’t read manuals. Instead, they give up on product setup within a few minutes.
Blame it on poor usability or just not reading the frickin’ manual, but it turns out that 95 percent of all returned gadgets actually work despite what customers may say or think. That’s right. Of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were truly broken.¹
Of course, this is not uniquely an American problem. It’s a human problem, especially in the age of instant gratification.
I’m guilty of it and so are you.
Take for example the FUNNY case of my first Smart TV. (You’ll feel very smart after reading this.)
I went on Amazon.com and purchased a Roku Smart tv. It was my first Smart TV. I had seen smart TVs in people’s homes and in stores. I thought I knew how they worked.
However, when I bought mine, I also bought a Roku Streaming Device: I thought they “went together.”
You’re laughing, aren’t you?
That’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. When they arrived the next day, I did what I always do — pretend I’m smart enough to figure it out.
So, I set up the TV and hooked up the streaming device. Luckily, nothing bad happened. The TV worked as expected.
A week later, I accidentally unplugged the streaming device while cleaning floors. But Netflix just kept on playing. A true WTF moment.
It truly baffled me. How was that possible?
Of course, anyone with half a brain knows what I did wrong. A smart tv does not require a streaming device because IT IS a streaming device.
