We live in the most information-rich era in human history. You can learn anything with a few clicks — fix a leaky faucet, figure out spreadsheet formulas, speak Tagalog, or replace your brakes. There are step-by-step videos, forums, blog posts, Reddit threads, and entire communities built to help you solve problems for free.
And yet … we all know people who still treat the simplest tasks like climbing Mount Everest along the most dangerous route in the dead of winter. No, it’s not because they can’t learn; they don’t want to learn. You and I know the type: “I’m not good with computers and hate technology.” “Can you just come over and help me (do it for me)?” “I don’t have the time to learn it.” Hmm, but you have time to watch three NHL games every Saturday, followed by Sportcenter before calling it a night.
These aren’t the occasional requests from someone truly in a jam. These are the go-to lines for people who have made a lifestyle out of avoiding basic skills and leaning on others to bridge the gap. I’ve heard these and other excuses more times than I can count. And usually, it’s from the same folks asking for help configuring their new laptop, making a hyperlink (no, I am not kidding), installing their new printer, or because their Word or Google doc mysteriously acts up every time they use them. I already said No to your request several times, what part of No don’t you understand?
The thing is, it’s not about intelligence or age; it’s about attitude, entitlement, and laziness. After all, why should Person A figure out how to do something when he can call or text resourceful Person B to come over and do it? There’s a big difference between not knowing and refusing to learn. Many of us didn’t grow up with this stuff either. We weren’t born with tech chips implanted in our brains or receive a magical knowledge download. What we did was Google things, watch tutorials, click around and read, and fail and frustrate our way into understanding so well that it became second nature. Was it fun? Not always. Was it intuitive? Rarely. Was it doable? Absolutely.
For many things, we no longer live in a “call someone” world; we live in a click-and-figure-it-out world. If you want to stay functional, personally and professionally, you have to learn how to do things. You don’t need to be a coder with twelve certifications after your name or a social media wizard, but learn how to use technology to benefit yourself and troubleshoot thoroughly at least twice before sending a panicked text to someone else.
This isn’t about snobbery or tech elitism because I have taken numerous courses, read online articles, and watched several videos when I want to learn something. It’s about frustration with people who are otherwise completely capable but have chosen helplessness and expect others to drop everything and come running each time their printer goes offline or they can’t, I mean won’t, figure out how to change their delivery address for Best Buy or Amazon. Yes, totally serious on that last one because people have texted me for just such things. We all have gaps in knowledge, and that’s fine. But what’s not fine is treating those gaps like permanent barriers instead of temporary learning curves. I’m not expecting everyone to be a digital genius, I’m certainly not one, but when someone’s had twenty years to learn something that should be common knowledge by now, it’s not about ability anymore. It’s about unwillingness, laziness, and a dependence on others who long ago had enough. The internet has made it possible to learn anything, but it can’t make you want to learn.
We all deal with a fear of looking foolish, getting frustrated, and failing the first couple of times we try something. However, the difference between staying stuck and moving forward is the decision to try anyway because you will eventually get it. The most powerful thing you can do in this age is to stay curious, not perfect, just curious.
John Berkovich Talks 