Q. Mastering a certain type of technology would help you immensely in your work, but every time you try to learn it, you give up. What can you do?

A. If you are uncomfortable around new technology, you may be learning at a “keystroke level” instead of a conceptual level, said Deborah Compeau, associate professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.

Fearful learners “want to have a piece of paper that tells them what buttons to push in what order”, she said. This leaves them unprepared for errors and impasses, which are inevitable.

When people learn at a conceptual level, they develop a framework for understanding how a piece of technology works and what it is for, said Professor Compeau, who has done research in this area. Deeper knowledge gives them the confidence and the flexibility to solve problems and make progress.

Q.What causes people to be resistant to new technology in the first place?

A.It can start with a simple lack of experience, which leads to a lack of confidence. “If you don’t think you can do something, you will avoid situations where you might be asked to do it,” Professor Compeau said. “When faced with trouble, you will give up more quickly, you will feel more anxious, and all of those things will get in the way of carrying out the behaviour.”

Beyond that, it is true that some people are more linear in their thought processes, which makes it easier to “think like a computer”, Professor Compeau said. A person with a different turn of mind may well have more trouble.

Q.Is it possible to learn a piece of technology all on your own?

A.For the fearful learner, it is possible but very difficult; face-to-face training, whether one-on-one or in a small group, is almost always preferable, Professor Compeau said.

Q.Once you’ve learned something, you always forget some crucial piece of information, and then you become stuck. But it’s so hard to ask for help. Won’t you annoy people?

A.Most people don’t mind being asked for help as long as you pick the right time. Only when you ask the same question over and over does it become irritating.

So when people offer to help you, make the most of it, said Dan Gruen, research scientist for IBM’s Collaborative User Experience lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Watch what they do and have them explain how they did it, he said. Internalise their strategies so that you are more likely to figure out a problem on your own next time, he said.

And keep in mind that people may like being asked for help because they enjoy “your sense of them as an amazing guru”, Gruen said.

It’s easiest, but maybe not always best, to turn to the person in the next cubicle for help, said Lorne Olfman, dean of information systems and technology at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. He suggested seeking out a “technology mentor” at your company who will regularly tackle work-based problems with you.

Q.If no one is available to help when you become stuck, are there ways to push through on your own?

A.If the technology is a software program, become familiar with the undo feature on your computer, and make frequent copies of files, saving them and giving them slightly different names, Gruen said. That way, you can return to an earlier version if your file goes wild after some ill-begotten keystrokes. If you receive an error message, try typing the exact words of the message into a search engine, Gruen said. You may well be guided to a website that tells you how to fix your mistake. Sometimes just typing a question or key phrase into a search engine can have the same results, he said.

Take advantage of user groups that form around various types of technology, Gruen added. They are not just for the proficient. In fact, they can be quite helpful for beginners, he said.

Q.How can an employer make it easier for a technology-resistant worker to learn?

A.Offer training, and make it hard to turn down training opportunities, Professor Compeau said. Gruen said companies could also create social networking opportunities through avenues like instant messaging, wikis (collaborative websites) and the like, where questions could be answered by internal experts.

Professor Compeau said companies could also encourage their computer support workers to be teachers. She recounts past help-desk experiences that are familiar to many: “When the technician came into my office, he would kick me out of my chair, sit down at my computer, go tappity-tappity-tap, and say ‘there, it’s fixed’.”

Instead, she said, support workers could explain what they are doing and why, and thereby turn the “support event,” as she calls it, into a “learning event”.