Manuals. Manuals. Manuals.
Prior to when I started using devices of my own, my dad had this old box where he just dumped all the manuals he’d ever gotten from the devices he bought. I would pick them up and just have fun looking at the black and white technical drawings. I’d try to read them, but then, it was mostly these funny-looking Chinese writings. I think that’s where I started losing interest in reading manuals.
Now I'm reading a few posts from other people and hey, it's like I'm not the only who's not reading manuals. Most people can actually relate.
When I got my first device, my first real device, not the usual hand-me-downs from older siblings, I never cared to read the manual. Wait, does anyone actually start with reading manuals first when they get a new phone? Maybe there are people who did. But the thing is, there’s this feeling of I already know how this thing works I get with regular devices like phones. I feel like all I need is the basic knowledge of how it works. It's charging well, the necessary buttons are working, your internet is connecting and all that. Hence, no need to read the manual. So I thought.
So for every regular device I come in contact with, I check if it actually works without me looking for that little booklet. And surprisingly, no device stressed me that I had to look for the manual. So that confidence mindset remained with me..but not for long.
The first time I actually ever read a manual cover to cover was when my sister gave birth. She had bought this set of clothes hangers for her baby and now that the baby had finally arrived, it was time to assemble it. It was funny seeing her husband trying to get everything to look like an actual clothes hanger, without the manual. Nothing was working. So I searched for the manual, and there it was. Beautifully illustrated with all the steps and instructions on how to successfully assemble it. We wasted a considerable amount of time using the trial-and-error method at first, but thanks to the manual, we got it done with less stress and way less brainwork.
Another time when I figured manuals are actually useful was when we got this electric water jug. An electric water jug shouldn’t be complicated to use, right? Just pour water into it and find a wall socket. No manuals needed. But there was this one time I needed just a little hot water. I poured the small volume I needed into the jug and plugged it in, but nothing happened. I tried and tried, till nothing. I was already starting to think it had become faulty or something. So I finally took the manual and realized the water had to be at a certain level before the jug would work properly.
All that work.
Manuals are really important. Since my fails handling things without manuals, I’ve made it a point of duty to just read them, even if I think I already know how a certain device works. A little more knowledge wouldn’t hurt anyone, now would it?
Images are mine