Click Control

It’s time we all admit it, the word ‘click’ is out of control.

It’s a sound, an action, a way of quickly becoming friends with someone, a description for sudden enlightenment, and, if you replace the first letter with a ‘K’, it also works as a unit of measurement. That’s already a lot for a little 5-letter word, but it’s use is increasing.

Remote controls are somewhat commonly called ‘the clicker’. I understand the reference, I’ve even used it myself, even though it’s wrong. Technically, the person pressing the buttons on the remote is the clicker, not the remote itself. But since there really isn’t any confusion there, I’m going to leave that one alone.

The most common use now is likely the click of a computer mouse. Anyone who’s ever had to call to tech support, or even taken direction from your friend who’s good with computers, has heard, “Okay, click here, click that, now click the X and click down there.”

A mouse click makes sense. You press the button on the mouse, it makes a click sound, the action is named after the sound.

With the integration of touch screen technology, a lot of people directing a friend still tell them to ‘click’ something. I’ve even seen videos from large companies directing people to their app by ‘clicking’ the app store and ‘clicking’ download.

Again, something I’ve been guilty of as well, but in this case ‘click’ is wrong. The person that used to click the mouse is still present but with nothing to click. The clicker has nothing click. Tap, drag and pinch are working their way into our vocabularies, so there isn’t much to worry about. At least not yet.

Still, a line must be drawn.

I heard a radio ad recently that directed customers to click their website. “To take advantage of this great deal, click www.wrongwordusingcompany.com.”

Unless all of our computers are going to list every website on the entire Internet for us to scroll through, no one is clicking your website address without the help of google. Most people are smart enough to realize they would need to type that address to “take advantage of the great deal,” but, guaranteed, there are some who won’t.

Having worked years in tech support call centres, there will be at least a half dozen people, inspired by that ad, that will sit down at their computer, stare at the screen for a few moments and then say aloud, “Where?”

Click here to go to my homepage.

But if you’re on a touch screen, tap here.

If you can’t tap or click, use this link.