What did you do with your time before you got a computer?
I know that I watched more TV and read more magazines and books. I have to admit that I also think that I spent more time outside than I do now (except summers where it is hard to stay inside except on the hottest days). My information gathering has changed. What I used to rely on newspaper and TV for, I get first on the computer. Or if I read something or hear something interesting, I research it further on the Internet.
What I really am aiming this question at is businesses. As much as a computer can help a business do more work faster and potentially better, I see an awful lot of employees and business owners waste a lot of time trying to learn a computer skill or solve a problem. Seeking answers isn't the problem, but knowing how and where to seek the answers is important to avoid wasting time.
Too many computer users will bang away at a computer problem or issue for hours or days before asking for help and thus losing valuable work time. Then when they do ask for help, it is often from a colleague in the office or in a neighboring office. This usually compounds the problem by bringing two or more employees away from their regular jobs and plunging them into the abyss that can be a computer problem.
All this wasted time really becomes apparent when a professional is brought in and solves the problem in under fifteen minutes.
The moral of the story is know when to say when….especially if you are in business. Computers, despite popular opinion, are not easy to use and often are hard to fix unless you have had the experience to fix them. And even if you do find a solution to the problem after two days of trying, what are the odds of you remembering the solution or ever needing that particular solution again.
