How true. Over the years I’ve had to train countless young folks surveying and engineering skills. These days of computerized engineering programs, most just want a quick answer to “which box do I enter that into” or “just tell me the number to use.”

I make them suffer because I explain WHY they should use a certain number, size, quantity, etc. If they don’t understand what’s going on they will never catch a mistake caused by the wrong keystroke or decimal point in the wrong place. Many of those mistakes either cost someone big bucks to fix or can imperil the lives of folks living downstream of a large dam.

But yes, attention spans seem to get shorter and shorter as time passes. Once one cocky young buck told me, “I don’t wanna know why, just tell me the number to enter.” Needless to say he ended up working somewhere else.

Taking responsibility for what we buy and use is, apparently, a controversial concept. Over the ten years or so I've been on UHH, and the 50 years of my "aware" life before that, I've noticed that a large number of people seem to gloss over the fact that technology is complex. They buy things that they think they want, but they don't do their research in advance, to be sure that THEY and their new devices, are compatible with what they want to do. They yank them out of the box, plug them in, turn them on, and get disappointed.

"Ready? FIRE!! (Uh, Aim, maybe? You just took out the neighbor's flower pot…)"

We're living in an age where our technical tools are not like hammers and screwdrivers, which are easily mastered by third graders. When you buy a hammer or screwdriver, it doesn't come with a manual, because it doesn't need one. It has a fairly singular purpose and a well-known and understood method of use. But technical gear — cameras, audio, video, computers, and cars — is different. These and many other tools and toys require serious consideration before buying, and serious study before use… IF we are going to get our money's worth from them.

Those of us who write user guides and technical manuals for products and software are usually the first to test the usability and viability of the product. If even the smallest detail doesn't work for us, we explain the issues we find to the product development team AND their directors. Making operation EASY for the customer IS HARD WORK for developers, engineers, and product design staff. It's just as difficult for trainers and training content developers.

One of the unfortunate assumptions companies make about their products is that customers WILL READ the documentation that explains proper use and care. Yet surveys have shown that up to 78% of customers never read it. Many users don't want anything to do with an 830+ page camera manual, or even any sort of a 20 page "Quick Start" guide.

I get all of that, but I also know from hiring many people in a photo lab — and from training school portrait photographers, office staff, and sales people — that understanding and mastering technology requires some quality time, focus, and a certain level of detail orientation. Patience with the documentation and with the entire learning process is usually rewarded with great results and long, trouble-free product life.

There is an old acronym that floated around the Internet BEFORE 1993, when the World Wide Web was born: 'R.T.F.M.' When users got stuck, and posted questions on a bulletin board forum for the tech support staff, the POLITE response was often, "Well, did you read the manual?" Soon enough, that got shortened to the acronym.

"Read The *Fine* Manual!" is the polite version of the acronym. After the tenth or eleventh call from the same user, with the same question, the tech support person would hang up the phone after a call, and yell into a paper bag, substituting whatever 'F' word suited his/her mood.

So here's my simple request to the universe of tech purchasers. Please read the documentation that comes with your purchase, or that you can download from the manufacturer's website at no additional cost. You will learn things you can do with your device that you never thought possible. You will avoid pitfalls that cause 80% of the issues people have with their devices. You will get more done, in less time, with better outcomes! You will trust the maker of the product more, because you understand what they do and don't expect you to do with their devices.

ESPECIALLY if you have used another brand of product in the same class, you need to read the manual just to UNLEARN how your old device of another brand worked. Don't expect brand L to work like brand N. Don't expect brand F to work like brand T. Terminology may be different, control placement may be different, and the way some of the functions work almost certainly will be different.

Don't try to make a Ford drive like a Toyota. It will just annoy you. Don't try to make a Windows PC work like a Mac. It will just frustrate you. They are different brands with different design philosophies and result from different ways of thinking about the same tasks. Take them for what they ARE, not for what they are not.

A little reading won't kill you. Operation may not be obvious, even when you think it should be. There's a reason for everything, and you need to know what it is, if you are going to get along with your new device. Read the freaking manual, and get your money's worth.

Speaking of keeping up with technology, I question your quote, "a little reading won't kill you". As you know, instruction manuals, written by the camera company employees, are NOT the easiest to understand or follow.
That's why I use the latest technology, google, to teach me how to get the best out of my gear. On google I can get 20-50 Utube video's from folks on how to get the best out of my gear. I hardly ever read any instructions on the camera besides the first few pages QUICK GUIDE OR QUICK SET UP. From there I go the Utube for the rest of my instructions.
When I want to put a new cabin filter in my car, I go to Utube.
When I want to install new windows in our cabin, I go to Utube.
For most of my instructions, I go to uTube.

I always saved the manuals (the English version, anyway) when I bought a new camera. Being a 'real man' I never read them until I had a problem. One problem with that approach is that the manual got stuck in a drawer with extra cards, lenses, filters, dessicants, etc. and I was out and about.

I finally found Manual Viewer 2, which goes on my iPhone. I just download the manuals I want and they're in my pocket all the time. I would expect there's an Android version. I found it about 3 years ago, so before that I was just out of luck.

The only problem with manuals is finding the description of the feature you're looking for. You have to know what they call it. The online manual is a bit better that way because you can enter keywords and the virtual manual will give you a list of where they are and you can just click to go there. No shuffling through 800 pages. If you don't have exactly the right name for what you want, you might have to do it several times, but it's still much easier than the paper manual.