Crying Wolf, or Why We’ve Stopped Listening
As children we are all raised to be wary of “crying wolf.” The phrase, we’re told, comes from the story of a little boy who always cried out to the villagers that there was a wolf, and that they and their flocks were in danger, but each time it turned out that he was lying. One day the wolf came for him, but when he cried out for help, the villagers simply chuckled, saying “We won’t be fooled this time!” The wolf killed the boy, and we are supposed to learn that one only calls for help when one is truly in need.
I have recently been giving some thought to how this principle has played itself out in our modern technological age. On almost any electronic or digital or computerized device we find some sort of alarm or notification letting us know that the battery is dying, that the clock is not set correctly, or that we are at risk for one thing or another. But the same boy-who-cried-wolf principle works here as well, and what I’ve found is that technology providers and producers have ignored it to the peril of us all.
Let’s start with the most obvious and most banal example: your Windows System Tray (don’t worry, this is the only time I will discuss computers here). If you are using a Windows PC, you have a row of icons in the bottom right hand corner. Many of these are advertisements or nice status things, but some of them can be trying to give you vital information. When you are no longer protected from internet viruses for example, a bubble extends from an icon to warn you about the vulnerability of your system. Microsoft, particularly sensitive to the various security and safety problems with Windows, issues updates at least once a month, if not more often. They pop up an icon in the System Tray when such updates need to be addressed. The problem? So many different messages pop up so often, that in the last 5-7 years of supporting many levels of computer users, I have seen almost everyone say something along the lines of, “Oh, that’s always there – I just ignore it!” Our computers cry wolf, and we’ve stopped listening.
A few days ago I was doing some shopping downtown and I had brought my backpack with me, loaded up with my laptop, various peripherals and cables, some books, dvd’s, my iPod, etc. With each store that I walked into, I passed through a security detector meant to prevent shoplifting. In each case and at all three of the stores I went to, the detector went off and the store people waved me through, saying “Oh, it always does that!” Our security systems cry wolf, and we’ve stopped listening.
When a cancer patient goes into a clinic or hospital to get a dose of chemotherapy, they are connected to a machine that is meant to watch the flow of the IV to prevent the sorts of bubbles and other problems that crop up in frequent administering of IV medications. When there is a problem that needs the attention of a medical professional, the machines will sound a beeping alarm. The problem is, it beeps all too frequently – either it is way too sensitive or inaccurate, or chemotherapy procedures need to be reexamined. The result is that walking through the chemo wings, one will hear many machines beeping their alarms. The nurses ignore them, saying “Well they beep all the time – everything is fine.” Our medical appliances cry wolf, and we’ve stopped listening.
This trend is quite disturbing. At this rate, building alarms or notifications into any machine, from security appliances to personal computers to bio-medical devices, is probably not all that helpful anymore–we’ve simply stopped listening.
