Getting too complicated?

A reader has a comment on the state of technology these days:

“I’m 86 and have lived through many generations of mainframe and PC software. When it comes to Windows and its related applications, I’ve observed that the unstated guide for software design is to make difficult tasks easy. The effect of this it seems is to make the easy things difficult. Over the years,Microsoft has followed this roadmap, consciously or not. What I miss from Windows (and related programs) is some way to initially “Cut the Crap.”

I feel you. I spent the better part of two hours trying to sync my friend’s iPhone with the dashboard of her car in order for her to play music. She certainly could drive the car without listening to music from her phone but if a feature is available, we tend to want to use it.

But I actually don’t necessarily think the tech is getting more complicated. It’s just that there are so many more options these days, especially with PCs. They want to be everything to everyone, so the number of features are so mind-boggling that it’s hard to zero in on just the few things you want to do.

Take my phone for instance. I can call someone just by saying, “Call Sue.”  Certainly quicker than dialing someone up on an old rotary phone. And being able to leave a message or know who attempted to call sure is convenient. But my phone also offers hundreds if not thousands of other features thanks to apps. That’s where security and other things start to get complicated.

I have a question for you. What’s the one task you find to be the most unnecessarily complicated? There might be a simpler way to handle it. I’m hedging my bets by saying ‘might’, but maybe I can help.  Let me know in the comments.