Adapting to new gadgets isn’t easy if we’re racked with techno-anxiety

Change is not always good. That's what I was told recently by someone who had issues with changes in the automotive section of reviewjournal.com, the Web site for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is operated by the team I manage.

The writer was upset because he's now directed to a search to find specific vehicles instead of browsing all entries. Fact of the matter is, the old method is still there, but the process is different.

He needs to learn the new method and we need to do a better job of describing the search options.

A colleague of mine in the digital world blames "techno-anxiety" for this resistance to change. He calls it "the apprehension people feel about using a new technology."

Roger Fidler, director of digital publishing for the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism said, "I have encountered techno-anxiety in people of all ages. The only way to reduce techno-anxiety is to reduce the perception of complexity.

"Apple has done a great job of reducing the perception of complexity with its iPhone. It has only one button that always does the same thing -- it displays the main menu. All of the icons are recognizable and can be rearranged by users if they choose to do so. The learning curve for basic use of the iPhone is very short relative to other intelligent phones that I've used or seen."

Fidler said the makers of a new genre of e-book readers have a thing or two to learn from Apple. I wholeheartedly agree, after using the iLiad e-reader from iRexTechnologies (www.irex technologies.com) for several months. The electronic ink display is crisp and clean, the memory of the lightweight device with its 8-inch screen is limitless, thanks to removable secure digital memory cards, but success hinges on ease of use, which has not been perfected. Yet.

Similar devices from Sony (www.sonystyle.com) and Amazon (www.amazon.com/kindle) use the e-ink display, as does a new MotoFone F3 mobile phone from Motorola. The main benefits of e-ink are readability in bright light and low battery consumption.

The challenge for e-books is getting people to use them, and the key to that is making them as easy as possible. Their competitors are old-fashioned books, which are the epitome of easy-to-use: open the cover, turn the page, read, repeat.

My first experience with the iLiad had me flipping pages in reverse. And the first time I handled the Amazon Kindle it seemed that anything I touched resulted in a page being turned.

My high school senior son, Ben, loved the iLiad reader. He immediately saw the sense in carrying a single device loaded with data instead of a backpack full of ink on paper.

We're living in an era of continuous change. Some want the next great gizmo, while others want what they know.

Change is good, just not easy.

Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.