Okay, real talk - I don't read manuals. I probably should, but I don't. It's not out of rebellion or anything dramatic like that. I just... forget they exist. Or maybe I get too excited about the new gadget to bother flipping through a tiny book full of tiny words, warnings and diagrams that somehow manage to make me feel like I've already broken something.
When I buy something new - whether it's a phone, a blender, or even a fan with five mysterious buttons - I usually skip the formalities and dive right in. Push a button here, turn a knob there, and pray I didn't just set it to self-destruct.
Most of the times, I figure it out. Eventually. Not always the smoothest journey, but I get there.
Once in a while, I discover a cool feature purely by accident. Like the time I randomly discovered that my Samsung phone's screen could split in two, and I could use two apps at once. One minute I was trying to drag something, and the next I had WhatsApp open on the top half and my browser open on the bottom. Mind blown. Did the manual mention that? Probably. But did I read it? No.
Now don't get me wrong - manuals have their place. They're great for people who like to know exactly what they're doing from the start. But for me, they're more like emergency backup. I'll only reach out for one if I've tried everything else and still can't figure it out. And even then, I'll probably look up a YouTube tutorial first.
That's not to say I haven't suffered the consequences. I've wasted time trying to fix something that the manual probably explained in the first paragraph. And I've pressed one too many buttons and had to awkwardly Google how to undo whatever I just did, and once managed to change my mom's phone language to something I couldn't even understand.
Still, there's something satisfying about figuring things out on your own. It feels like I've tamed the tech, even if I took the long route.
So no, I don't read manuals. Not because I think I'm too smart for them - but because I'm too impatient, to curious, or just used to figuring things out the hard way.
How about you? Do you flip through the manual first or do you figure it out on your own and hope you don't set something on fire?
First image was generated using META AI, second image is a screenshot of my phone's screen