{"id":5422,"date":"2026-10-17T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T18:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/?p=5422"},"modified":"2026-10-17T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T18:16:13","slug":"human-nature-the-instructions-were-right-there-all-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/human-nature-the-instructions-were-right-there-all-along\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Nature: The Instructions Were Right There All Along"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lost Art of Reading<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Completely Unscientific Study of Human Nature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere along the way, humanity developed the ability to communicate across continents, put a man on the moon, build computers that fit in our pockets, and create artificial intelligence capable of answering questions in seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, apparently, we stopped reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not entirely, of course. We still read things that interest us. Sports scores. Restaurant menus. The occasional Facebook argument. The expiration date on a gallon of milk, usually after we’ve already poured it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But instructions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those appear to have become optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been conducting an informal study of this phenomenon from my office at The Maintenance Shop. My research facility consists of four monitors, a keyboard, an increasingly suspicious supply of Coke Zero, and enough incoming messages to make an air traffic controller request a quieter assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results have been fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And by fascinating, I mean I may need another Coke Zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Experiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s say you have a website with a calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directly above that calendar is an explanation of what the calendar means, how scheduling works, and why certain dates may or may not appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The information is clearly written. It’s visible. It’s in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A visitor opens the page, scrolls past the explanation, looks at the calendar, and immediately sends a message asking a question answered by the paragraph they just passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not an isolated occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a recurring scientific event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve developed a theory that certain words become invisible when placed directly above something a person wants to click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call it Selective Instruction Blindness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It hasn’t been accepted by the scientific community yet, mostly because I haven’t submitted it to anyone. I’m too busy answering questions about the instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Five Stages of Not Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After years of observation, I’ve identified five distinct stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage One: Confidence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject approaches the website believing they already know what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage Two: Scanning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject moves rapidly down the page, occasionally noticing a bold heading or an interesting picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage Three: Improvisation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having skipped the instructions, the subject makes an educated guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The education involved remains under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage Four: Confusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guess doesn’t produce the expected result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage Five: Contacting Someone Who Wrote the Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject sends a message asking for clarification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is copied, sometimes nearly word for word, from the instructions that were skipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject replies, “Oh, okay. Thanks!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somewhere in Idaho, a man opens another Coke Zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology Has Made This Better. Allegedly.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We now have devices that can translate languages, navigate unfamiliar cities, recognize faces, and tell us what the weather will be next Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we’ve somehow developed an extraordinary ability to overlook a sentence that says, “Please read this before proceeding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sometimes wonder what would happen if we put instructions on the back of a cereal box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would people still read them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or would we start receiving emails asking how to pour the milk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, I’m not immune to human nature. I’ve overlooked things myself. The difference is that when I discover the answer was sitting in front of me the entire time, I generally try not to announce it to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the world occasionally announces it to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Theory About Common Sense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

People often say common sense isn’t very common anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think common sense is still out there. It’s just competing with convenience, impatience, distractions, and the irresistible urge to click something before understanding what it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re all in a hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want answers immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sometimes, in our rush to save thirty seconds reading an explanation, we spend five minutes asking someone to explain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s not efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s taking the scenic route to a destination you were already standing in front of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After reviewing the evidence, I’ve reached three conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, people are generally good, decent, and well-intentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, human beings are capable of astonishing achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, if you put a large sign on a door that says PULL<\/strong>, someone will push it, push it again, look annoyed, and eventually ask whether the building is closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this is intended to insult anyone. It’s simply an observation about the wonderfully unpredictable creatures we call human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I do reserve the right to stare at my monitors occasionally and wonder how our species managed to invent space travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you’re wondering what any of this has to do with sprinkler blowouts, the answer is simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere on our website, there’s probably a paragraph explaining that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You just have to read it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Sprinkler Blowout Land, where the compressors run on air, the office runs on Coke Zero, and the instructions are apparently hiding in plain sight.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lost Art of Reading A Completely Unscientific Study of Human Nature Somewhere along the way, humanity developed the ability to communicate across continents, put a man on the moon, build computers that fit in our pockets, and create artificial intelligence capable of answering questions in seconds. And then, apparently, we stopped reading. Not entirely, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":"","tiny_slug":"oyfjb"},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sprinkler-blowouts"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Steven Crist","author_link":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Lost Art of Reading A Completely Unscientific Study of Human Nature Somewhere along the way, humanity developed the ability to communicate across continents, put a man on the moon, build computers that fit in our pockets, and create artificial intelligence capable of answering questions in seconds. And then, apparently, we stopped reading. Not entirely,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5434,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5422\/revisions\/5434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.treasurevalleyrepairs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}