Enhance it! The Myths of How Computers Work

A few years back my mom called from California asking for help with her PC. She was having some sort of problem with an application (really, on a PC?) and as she struggled to explain what it was she finally asked, "Can you just get onto my computer through your computer and fix it?" She explained she had seen someone do just that in a movie or TV show and figured I would know how as well. Sorry mom.

There have been quite a few times when my parents, my friends, and even myself have completely misunderstood how certain technologies work and taken what they've seen in a movie or on a show to be accurate. The video above is a prime (and hilarious) example of how the media oversimplifies things and even exaggerates just what's possible with today's technology.

A fun thing to do at home is invite your nerdy IT friends (luckily my soon-to-be husband is one of those) and watch a movie/show where the characters throw out tech lingo. Watch your friends laugh uncontrollably at the nonsense being spewed out and get a chuckle in yourself.

Oh, and next time someone asks you what MacGyver would do, you can say, "Vector in on that guy!"

Thanks Dan!

Comments (18)

FAIL: Republican Ted Stevens explains the internet as a series of tubes.

"They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material."

you can absolutely remote connect to your mom's pc, provided you have the right information.

Here are 2 ways to take control of someone else's computer.
https://www.copilot.com/
https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/express/Default.aspx

Ah yes...let me guess, Mac user? Inferred from the snide "really, on a PC?" comment.

This is one of those situations where controlling your Mom's computer from another PC would be literally as easy as 4 clicks. Doing the same on a Mac would have you jumping through hoops, and experiencing a pile of hangs and crashes at both ends while you do so. As someone who runs both systems and frequently uses remote desktop on both platforms, trust me, this is *much* easier to get going on a PC.

Why is Mac so much more usable again? Oh yes, that nice Mr. Jobs said so.

I actually know that you can remotely connect to another Mac/PC, but I've never done it. The point of the anecdote was that my mom assumed I've been doing this all along and it was as easy as checking my Gmail, when in fact I've never done it before. How it connects to the YouTube clip is that people see these scenes and think, "Oh yah, they should just enhance it," when they actually don't know what that would entail (or if it's even possible).

@Oneisco
Get over yourself. It's called humor and is the equivalent of someone complaining about serious Mac gaming (har har!).

To the topic, this is pretty funny considering my Mom asks the same thing. Since she has MobileMe, I just had her set that up once so I can use the "Back to my Mac" feature and have her screen up within 2 or 3 clicks.

Or, if you use iChat, simply click "Ask to share remote screen" in the Buddies window.

There are other ways but I use these two predominantly. This helps a lot being overseas and not always there to help directly.

haha. the video plus the comments = teh lulz.

people see this stuff happen on TV and think 'that's how it works!'. my dad does. setting up TightVNC with him was painful.

btw, commenters, is there a KB article for how to fix your sense of humor?

"Doing the same on a Mac would have you jumping through hoops, and experiencing a pile of hangs and crashes at both ends while you do so. As someone who runs both systems and frequently uses remote desktop on both platforms, trust me, this is *much* easier to get going on a PC."

Really? "Ask to share remote screen" via iChat doesn't seem like jumping through hoops at all. In fact, it doesn't even take a click, just a drop menu option. Although getting my mom to accept the request can be a hassle unto itself, once she's accepted, I hardly think it's all too hard.

Gregory,
Your mom IMs, let alone knows what an IM is? Lucky!

Just bought my mom a new PC... only to realize she's going to be calling me every weekend with a new laundry list of "things I think a computer can do."

It's pretty easy to do on a mac or a windows machine. Just to add to the wangst, i live a 2 mac house, and osx routinely has more issues than windows.

Love the comments! I knew the slide at PCs in the post would get people talking. I laughed when we got into politics too. "FAIL: Republican Ted Stevens explains . . ." Let's stop right there. The only stupid thing about that is not what was said, but suggesting that all members of a group think the same way, no matter which party or religion or race they are.

Back to what we should be doing, enjoying one another. I love in movies when they show the complicated tech device and it's old garbage, or just a motherboard. Scenario: The ship is broken and not working, they open a panel to reveal . . . an old ATX motherboard. They remove and network adapter . . . er I mean power core/navigation/whatever device, do diagnostics with a volt meter, er I mean futuristic thing (they added LEDs, okay?) and put it back in. Ruins the whole movie, but makes it great at the same time.

Hmmm... I remotely connect to my Mac at home using Leopard's built-in VNC tools, and it's literally a two-click process. No jumping through hoops and no crashes. Connecting a Mac to a PC is not that difficult either; I do it every day to help my dad solve problems with his PC.

It's funny how the same old Mac myths and marketing- driven self-esteem issues keep popping up with a certain segment of the PC-using population. Time to turn the TV off and quit being so damn defensive towards people you don't know...

But CygnusX1, you're being defensive toward people you don't know (the people who were being defensive on the other side of you argument about the ease of remote connecting with Macs). Or does being "right" make it not defensive.

But seriously, a person is not the computer they choose to use. Don't let your tools define you.

"Really? "Ask to share remote screen" via iChat doesn't seem like jumping through hoops at all. In fact, it doesn't even take a click, just a drop menu option. Although getting my mom to accept the request can be a hassle unto itself, once she's accepted, I hardly think it's all too hard."

Connect to a windows PC instead. 90% of the world runs windows, assuming you're not just dinkering around checking email and drawing pictures with a mac, this is going to be the most likely use case. You'll need 3rd party remote desktop solutions. So far pretty much all of them have given me the infinite beach ball, had the app icon forever bouncing up and down in the system tray, crashed the remote computer, or done any combination of the above.

lol FAIL. lol

I luvs me LogMeIn.