Les technophobes.

Technophobes.

Technophobes are people who hate modern technology, probably because they don't understand it, or because they are afraid of doing something wrong and ruining the equipment.

However, this is not a new phenomenon. At the turn of the 20th century, when electricity was installed in many homes, signs were placed on the wall next to the light-switches advising clients who were used to gas lighting not to try to light the electricity with a match!

I can recall several cases where people were ignorant of how to use new machines or gadgets, causing embarrassment in the would-be user and hilarity in the observer.

A woman who had no idea how to cook was temporarily without a cook, so she asked a friend how to boil an egg. 'Oh, that's easy,' the friend replied,'put the egg in boiling water and use this egg-timer. When the sand has all run through from one end to the other the egg will be cooked.' Unfortunately, she put the egg-timer in the water with the egg and broke it!

When videos first came on the market, another woman, who had never seen a video-tape before, took it out of the box and began shaking it. Her husband asked her what she was doing. She replied, 'Shaking the tape. It says on the tape 'Shake before use'.' Her husband informed her that the name of the film was 'Shake before use'!

My personal favourite is probably an urban legend. A man read the instructions on a tin of beans. It said, 'Open tin and stand in boiling water to heat.' He promptly stood in a bowl of hot water holding the tin of beans in his hand!

So, whatever your phobias, new technology is here to stay, until someone comes along and invents something else we can't use.