When I try to explain computer-related things to other people I usually fail at bringing them to the understanding level that I hope they will have following the explanation. The problem is that I can’t figure out what’s wrong with what I say.
I guess one thing is that I want people to understand what they’re doing instead of just following my instructions until the next time they need to do the same thing again. It’s hard for me to accept the fact that sometimes people simply don’t want to understand what they’re doing with a computer but just get it done. Surprisingly I was the same with math – although I wanted to understand things when I studied math, many times I gave up and just asked for a way to solve problems without understanding.
Another reason is that things seem pretty obvious to me. Of course they weren’t so obvious when I first had to learn them, but now I find it hard to explain because I can’t recreate in my mind the learning process that I had to go through. It’s probably a different process for me and for others, anyway. I guess I’m not such a good teacher – good teachers can relate to the student’s state of mind to see how they can bring the student to a level of understanding.
Anyway, the outcome of all this is usually that I get upset as things I say don’t help the person I’m supposed to help and it becomes very apparent, making the entire process a pain for both me and the other side.
So to anyone I tried to help and made it into an unpleasant experience – I’m sorry.