Goodbye to words

The evolution of the way knobs and buttons in a car are marked for identification is one of the best ways to show how thinking changes over time. When cars first came out, knobs and buttons were not identified, especially the crank, which was on the outside of the car. Everyone knew what the crank was for whether or not it was labeled. As car companies began marking their buttons and knobs, they would spell out the whole word beside it or above or below it. Then, the companies began abbreviating, like A/C for Air Conditioning. Finally, symbols were adopted for the buttons and knobs. Now you wouldn't ever see Heater or Htr, you would see two slightly off parallel bars with waves in between.

The reason that represents a change in thinking is that it shows that people react faster with fuller comprehension to symbols than to letters for words or abbbreviations. We live in a visually stimulated world where rapid reaction is required. Ask any gamer. I look forward to the next 10 years as visual stimuli becomes ever more the way life will be arranged. Goodbye words, which slow the reaction process down.