Stop making electronic gadgets so complicated!

It seems that technology is moving too fast for some people, and that a surprising amount of consumers want companies to start making gadgets less complicated, rather than more.

According to a recent survey by Which?, a British consumer group, electronic gadgets are getting too complicated for mere mortals, and are becoming increasingly geared more towards technically minded people.

1,034 people were surveyed by Which.co.uk, and the results were surprisingly anti-technology. Nearly two thirds of respondents said they owned some gadgets which had functions they did not understand, and consequently, never used.

An even bigger number, over 75% of those questioned, also felt manufacturers should design their products to be easier to use, and they’d be likely to buy them as a result.

Remote controls were the least favourite item, with those complicated ones which come bundled with televisions, DVD players, and stereos the worst offenders.

Malcolm Coles, editor of Which.co.uk, told The Daily Mail:

“There’s no need to make a meal out of remote controls, radios or any other technical products. The result of our survey shows that many consumers would prefer simple gadgets to unnecessarily complicated versions.”

“The message to manufacturers is clear. If people don’t understand how to use all these extra features, they just won’t use them. There seems to be no point spending all that money on developing ever more complicated gadgets if it just confuses customers.”

“They ought to spend more on researching user friendliness instead, simplifying the language and improving clarity. We are not calling for a return to the mobile phones of the 1980s where one object does just one thing, but most people would like things to be a little less complicated.”

One of the biggest results to come out of the survey was the fact that how complicated a device is, very much determines what make and model consumers buy.

63% of the adults asked would much rather buy a basic design instead of ones with remote controls with lots of extra functions. A similar number said they also preferred more basic versions of mobile phones, digital radios, and digital cameras.

So there was me thinking the world was becoming increasingly inhabited by technoholics, when in actual fact there are a surprising number of technophobes still out there.

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