I don’t know when it started, but there is NO question, I am a technology snob. ZERO question. There was a little run skit on Saturday Night Live where Jimmy Fallon played a tech support geek at a company. Here’s a great clip that sums me up:
I am Nick Burns. It’s pathetic, but true.
The first time I remember exhibiting this behavior was at a friends house soon after we both started using Tivo in the mid 2000′s. This was soon after you could add your Yahoo! pictures and hook it up to your PC to transfer video’s etc. If you’ve used Tivo, you’ll remember (I say remember as I’ve unfortunately moved on to the Directv DVR) that you could “hack” the box to add a 30 second skip feature that wasn’t standard to skip commercials. While spending the weekend at their house, I did the Nintendo Contra style remote control code to add the skip feature to their Tivo. I, of course, did this without asking if he would want the feature.
Seriously, how could he not?
They, of course, did NOT want this great feature so I had to remove it.
Fast forward to every dinner at my parents house. Recently they purchased an HDTV and after some convincing, upgraded their cable box to add HD programming and the DVR. Although most HD programing is in wide screen, some shows they watch are not. They do not like to watch 4:3 shows with black bars on the side, so they’ve set the TV display to stretch everything to fill the screen. This distorts both 4:3 shows, as well as 16:9 HD content and for me, renders a show unwatchable. Since I can’t help myself, I grab the remote, set the defaults back to native, and watch the way it was meant to be watched. I am, as I said, a technology snob…
This does not please my parents, and least of all my wife. Nobody else in the room understands why I made the change, nor how it is better! Insanity, right! Soon after I leave, the settings are changed back to wide zoom…
Fast forward to tonight, when I was showing my brother Google Wave. I explained both how it works today in Beta, as well as how it could work in the future. I then asked if he’d heard of Google Voice. He said no, and without thinking, I let out an evil chuckle, as if I held the keys to some great toy. Pathetic, but like I said…snob.
Sadly, the Hulu vido of Nick Burns isn’t that far off. I’m often asked “how-to” questions at work. If I can’t handle by phone, I usually go over to the computer in question. Soon after huffing in disgust that they are ignoring the “invention” of tabbed browsing, I fix the problem, mumble a few things to my self, chuckle as if I’m hilarious, and go about my day. It’s a sickness, I know.
I am curious though, do you think it’s a sickness, or are you just like me? Are you “that guy” or are you calling your version of “me” for help?
