Technology & Digital Literacy
Real-world frictions in everyday technology. They include technical words that confuse people, AI tools that need perfect prompts, phone updates and lockouts, and devices such as printers, earbuds and USB drives that fail for hidden reasons.
36 frictions
- Fear and Intimidation When Using Computers FJ-000047
- Hidden Cache and Junk Files Gradually Reduce Phone Performance FJ-000048
- App Updates Become a Burden on Low-Storage and Limited-Data Devices FJ-000049
- AI Image Reading Can Misinterpret Critical Real-World Information FJ-000050
- Mobile Keyboard Translation Breaks During Long Multilingual Conversations FJ-000051
- Many People Still Depend on Others to Write Important Letters, Emails, and Official Documents FJ-000052
- Technical Words and Menu Names on Phones and Computers Confuse People With Limited Education FJ-000098
- A Sudden Drive Lock Screen Can Block a Laptop, With Recovery Steps Written in Technical Language FJ-000101
- AI Tools Often Need Perfect Prompts to Give a Useful Answer FJ-000102
- AI Chats Lose Earlier Context in Long Conversations and Do Not Carry Over to New Chats FJ-000103
- AI Tools Answer in the Same Complex Language Regardless of the User's Reading Comfort FJ-000107
- People Hear Frightening Claims That AI Will Replace Jobs but Get No Simple Guidance on What to Do FJ-000108
- Users Cannot Easily Tell Which AI Tool Is Giving the Most Accurate Answer FJ-000109
- Paid AI Subscriptions and Free-Tier Limits Put Reliable AI Beyond Many People's Budget FJ-000112
- AI Tools Often Misunderstand Local Dialects, Accents, and Rural Ways of Speaking FJ-000113
- Computers Can Take Over the Screen With a Long Update When Users Try to Shut Down FJ-000117
- Shaking App Icons After an Accidental Long Press Can Frighten New Smartphone Users FJ-000118
- Auto-Capitalised First Letters Can Cause Silent Login Failures on Phones FJ-000119
- Phone Lock Screens Hide What Is Being Typed, Making Lockouts More Likely FJ-000120
- Switching Off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth From the Control Panel May Not Turn the Hardware Off FJ-000121
- Bright Red Notification Badges Create Pressure and Unnecessary Alarm FJ-000122
- Permission Pop-Ups Use Alarming Language and Give Users an All-or-Nothing Choice FJ-000123
- A Frozen Black Screen Leaves Many Phone Users Without Any Clue What Happened FJ-000124
- Gesture-Only Phone Navigation Can Leave Less Confident Users Unable to Return to the Home Screen FJ-000125
- Users Cannot Easily Tell How Their Phone Will Behave When an Important Call Arrives FJ-000126
- Phones in Pockets Can Wake Up and Perform Actions the Owner Did Not Intend FJ-000127
- Smart TV App and Software Updates Can Turn Watching Television Into a Technical Task FJ-000128
- Printers Can Turn a Simple Print Job Into a Technical Problem With Unclear Error Messages FJ-000151
- Photocopiers Expect Users to Understand Glass Alignment, Feeder Limits, and Settings for a Simple Copy FJ-000152
- Keyboards Can Change What Keys Do (Layout, Overtype, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Fn Lock) Without Making the Change Obvious FJ-000156
- A Wireless Mouse Can Stop Working for Hidden Reasons, Leaving Users Unsure Whether the Mouse, the Connection, or the Computer Is at Fault FJ-000157
- Wireless Earbuds Depend on Many Hidden States (Fit, Charging Contacts, Battery, Connection) That Users Must Guess FJ-000174
- Multi-Port USB Hubs Can Disconnect Devices, Slow Transfers, or Fail to Power Equipment for Reasons Users Cannot See FJ-000196
- Hidden Laptop Cooling Problems Cause Slowdown, Noise, and Shutdowns That Users Cannot Easily Diagnose FJ-000203
- USB Flash Drives Can Turn a Simple File Transfer Into Unclear Orientation, Recognition, File-Size, and Safe-Removal Problems FJ-000206
- HDMI Connections Can Drop at the Wrong Moment, and Users Cannot Easily Tell Whether the Cable, Port, or Setting Is at Fault FJ-000208