Knowing What To Do

Norman is making a good point about the use of sound to support visual information. On many occasions I would ring the door bell and wouldn’t hear the expected sound, just nothing, no sound. Does this ring door work? Probably not, so I knock on the door.
But as the sound supports and helps to understand what is happening in one situation, in another it might be annoying and unpleasant. I hate when cars make a loud beep while the door are being locked or their alarm system suddenly turns on without any particular reason. One night at 1.00 am I had to go to my good neighbor to ask him to turn his car alarm off. The alarm was on every 30 minutes without any reason making enormous noise.
Slips are made automatically. We don’t think about routinely done actions, unless we make mistake. I remember my friend running around the house looking for her wallet. Until, the next day she opened the fridge, and the wallet was there, on the shelf among her yogurt and cheese. She unconsciously unpacked her groceries a day before and as the wallet was in the bag it ended up in the fridge.
When my own morning routine get distracted I always forget to do something. The slips we make are the result from a lack of attention. My friend told that most of the time she doesn’t remember her driving from work, even though the road is quite long and winding. According to Norman (1988), “Everyday activities must usually be done relatively quickly, often simultaneously with other activities. Neither time nor mental resources may be available. As a result, everyday activities structure themselves so as to minimize conscious mental activity, which means they must minimize planning and mental computation (p.125).


References

Norman, D.(1988). The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books.