Hasta La Gadget!

Oct 27

10 reasons why you should ignore tech posts that begin with ’10 reasons why’

(Credit: !0PointlessThings/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

1. There are rarely 10 reasons for anything. Sometimes, there are only two or three. These involve ego, need for love and conformism. But other times, there are very many. There might be 5 reasons why you should buy a Nexus 7. Or only one. Some might think there are 8 reasons why an Xbox One will get them through the holiday season. There are, though, 423 reasons why Microsoft Word will, in the end, drive you crazy.

2. When you start out knowing you have to find 10 reasons for something, how many of those are likely to be even remotely correct? Hitting .300 as a listicle writer is harder than for your average slugger.

3. If there was anything magical, revolutionary or even vaguely persuasive about offering 10 reasons why something, Apple’s slick marketers would have launched the iPad with “10 reasons why you should buy the iPad.” Instead, they showed the product and played some music.

4. Look at your favorite gadget. Were there really 10 reasons why you decided to buy it? Or was it just because 10 people you know have one?