A silly poll

[sabotabby]

I don't know if this happens to you, but it happens to me a lot, because despite my general curmudgeonliness, I am perceived to be some sort of gadget geek, early adopter, phone asshole. (Note: I hate phones, I can't figure out what tablets are for and thus hate them, and I'm agnostic on e-readers.) Whenever friends or acquaintances get some sort of new device, they immediately hand it to me and unlock it. And then I'm super-awkward, because isn't that just like poking around on someone's computer? I don't want people poking around on my computer, or on my cell. But other people are always inviting me to dick with their cells.

Anyway, I never know what to do. I assume if there's a particularly interesting app, they would show it to me, but when they do this, they seem to want me to just randomly poke at apps. Is this what people do? I have a smart phone but the apps I actually use are minimal: I have one for the intertubes, several for my e-mail, FB, Tumblr, (not LJ, because LJ's mobile app sucks monkey balls), a calendar, a calculator, a contact list, and a map thing. I hear it can make phone calls too. At any rate, I really don't think anyone is interested in playing with these apps unless they happen to be me. I don't have any games, and when people hand me their gadgets, I never really know where to find the games or how to play them. The last time someone handed me a tablet, I found the camera function and started snapping pictures of random people until he finally took it back.

Basically, this is one of those situations where I completely fail at social interaction. When someone hands me a gadget they might as well hand me a baby. I just gape at it and say, "ooh shiny."

So what do you do?

[Poll #1817413]

Comments

[symbioid.livejournal.com]

Nobody hands me their gizmos, probably because the first thing I'd do is load some sweet porn on it. Not that I've ever had the chance to do so, but they probably know me too well so they probably just don't even take that chance. or something.

I have to admit, my roomies and such are kinda all old school online peepz, but they aren't particularly techy, which I find funny, because I'm like -- well I'm not like Comp Sci, or Developer or IT, I'm still just a notch above most on the tech-geek scale, and I just feel weird when everyone else I know from online isn't all geeky like that.

That's ok though. I think it's more sane for you to do it how you do. I don't have a cellphone. It's just so fun to hear people think how weird I am for not having one. It's almost like a badge of honor or something at this point. I dunno.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Informal survey reveals...
People don't hand us new gadgets unless
a.) they want to show us a specific feature
b.) they want us to fix it
c.) it's broken

It is just like poking around on someone's computer. I don't know the proper protocol for it. Taking pictures seems pretty safe to me. It's not just you!

(I apologize for the complete lack of helpfulness in this comment.)

[sabotabby]

I consider myself really low on the tech-geek scale compared to my friends, but ridiculously high (like maybe third in my workplace of around 90 people) at work. But I'm only interested in pretty specific tech things.

I didn't have a cellphone for years, and I still occasionally make like I don't have one. It's a portable e-mail device as far as I'm concerned. I get seriously irritated when people try to call me on it.

[auntpurl.livejournal.com]

This never happens in London. That may be because English people would never do that, or because I already have all the gadgets so nobody shows me theirs because I've had it for months already. (I am a technology harlot.)

Typed on my iPad.

[sabotabby]

I wasn't looking for advice so much as reassurance that there wasn't some sort of basic social understanding that I was missing. I'm generally pretty socially adept, but sometimes I fail in highly specific ways. (Like holding a baby, for example. I literally had to watch other people holding babies and listen to what they said so that when someone handed me a baby, I would respond appropriately. And also not drop it.)

[sabotabby]

Haha. People used to show me their iStuff but I broke the faith by getting a phone that runs on Android. Now I have 'droidheads wanting to show off their 'droidstuff to me all the time.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're supposed to do either. "Take it out for a spin." What? It spins?

[sabotabby]

I tried to spin it. Results were less than satisfactory.

[agatharuncible.livejournal.com]

You should just poke around the main menu, and then ask them questions like "Is it easy to read on?", "Do you like the keyboard?", and about backlit screens or something. That way they'll think you're interested and it gives them a chance to boast about their newest technological purchase while taking the focus off what you're doing with their gadget (ahaha /islike5).

[fluffworld.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what the protocol is here either. I don't like using other people's computers/phones - it feels like prying to me. I just usually ask them to show me their favourite thing about it, or shift it around admiring the case etc, and then hand back and ask "so, why did you choose this one"? That way they do all the work.

On a side note, my partner got me an ereader for Christmas and - while I thought I would be meh - I am in love. The facility to carry many, many heavy books in a little light thing has saved my ass and shoulders on loads of trips and made public transport bearable again, and the screen actually reads like a book (not backlit) so no silly eyestrain. Utterly adore. That said, I don't now have less love for regular books, I have even MORE book love than before. It's awesome. I am reading so much more these days.

[thenetwork.livejournal.com]

I get a deathgrip on it and freeze, terrified that I'll drop it/spill coffee on it/push the wrong button and it will explode, and I then will owe them a million dollars plus they will hate me. :)

[outcastspice.livejournal.com]

Among the gadget owning people I hang out with, everyone tends to keep their iPhones to themselves, or hand them to someone else for a specific reason (look at this funny picture, let me show you an app game I got).

I agree that it's weird to hand someone your personal computer and then let them play with it. I wish the iPhone had a 'guest' mode.

I sometimes let a friend's young child play with my phone, but he's only interested in the games.

[outcastspice.livejournal.com]

When my cousin got an iPad I played with it, but he watched and suggested I look at certain apps.

[curgoth]

My favourite thing about my tablet is reading comics on it. That and watching TV.

[baroncognito.livejournal.com]

I complain about the lack of a stylus, unless it has a stylus, then I try to write math equations.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I generally resist having it handed to me unless they're showing me something specific, but got seduced by the ticky-box choice in the poll.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this has never happened to me. The only times ppl hand me their gadgets are a) with instructions to hold it for them while they do {whatever thing}, in which case I generally put it in my pocket or on the table I am sitting at or something, or b) with a specific request, like, "such-and-such a thing isn't working, fix it," in which case I just try to do that! Or I guess sometimes b/c I ask to look at their device b/c I want to check out something specific, and they let me. If someone ever did just hand me their device with no instructions, I would probably check out the GUI and apps and things like that, I guess.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

People do this?

The only time I get handed gadgets is when they're my dad's, in which case I feel quite comfortable dicking around with them because he's my dad. What the hell would I even do with a stranger's phone?

[sabotabby]

Oh, see, now that is a good idea.

What if they walk off? This happens.

[sabotabby]

I can certainly see the point of e-readers. At the moment, I'm on kind of a book-buying moratorium unless I know the author, editor, or publisher, and all of my reading is coming from the library, so it doesn't seem necessary. Eventually I'll probably get one.

Still, if someone gives me one, I don't know what to do with it. Read their books? Most people who show me their e-readers have shitty taste in books.

[smhwpf.livejournal.com]

People don't do that here, as far as I can tell. Not with me at least. But if they did I'd be as bemused as you.

[sabotabby]

It's funny how coffee just appears in my hand the moment someone hands me one! It's like magic. There wasn't coffee before and now there's coffee to spill on it, somehow.

[sabotabby]

I feel like all tablets are basically the same. I've played with one, was uninterested, and yet people insist on handing them to me. It's so strange.

[sabotabby]

Does it do facing pages?

[sabotabby]

I complain about the lack of a keyboard. I feel that anything larger than an e-reader ought to have a keyboard.

[sabotabby]

I put that there specifically to tempt people into ticking it.

[sabotabby]

They seem to have some sort of expectation that I'll do something beyond stare at it and say, "Oh! It has many apps."

[sabotabby]

People do this to me. It's baffling.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

obvsly you have special skillz and should know how to unlock the function that allows it to print money!

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Temptress!

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

It is baffling. Maybe you have a special, magical, hand-me-your-electronic-gadget aura of which you were unaware, but of which you are, now, slowly gaining an awareness?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

If they have a facebook app you could post embarrassing updates to their wall.

Not that I would know how to do that, but if I could figure it out it would seem like a good way to get them to stop.

[thenetwork.livejournal.com]

I know. It's a liquid conspiracy.

[curgoth]

In the sense of "double page spreads are included as one big picture best viewed by turning the tablet sideways and adjusting the zoom", yes. But normally I on;y look at one page at a time, since that way it's the same size as an actual comic.

[nichtsda.livejournal.com]

I usually open up their mail or text messaging app and read the interesting bits out loud.

That often ends the showing-off session within seconds.

[baroncognito.livejournal.com]

I agree with that sentiment, but most of the devices have keyboards available. When you use one of those keyboards it works fine. However, unless a device is designed with a stylus, you can't use a stylus with full functionality.

I mean, they make a stylus for the iPad, but from what I've heard, it's like writing in crayon. Whereas with a tablet PC that comes with a stylus, it's almost as good as a pencil. You write with the pointy side, then flip it upside down to erase.

And I have cleverly avoided needing to use the plural form of stylus.

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

When my cellphone rings, I automatically say, "Oh, shit." (Not into the phone, although I'd like to.)

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Oh, and nobody ever hands me their gadget; it's like pulling teeth to get anyone to let me use their new toy. Which isn't surprising; I usually don't ask anyway.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Yeah basically, you metaphorically throw the ball back at them by asking what they like about it, compared to their last phone, say. Then you can just fake caring about it. :)

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

I love this!! :)

[fluffworld.livejournal.com]

Stare at it intently and then ask if it still works as loo roll in a pinch.

[sabotabby]

Hahahaha.