🐇I need to fix this problem I have.
🐙Ah, I can see the problem, you’re using a flathead screwdriver as opposed to a Phillips.
🐇I’ve always used a flathead. It’s always worked well enough for me.
🐙Yeah, but, most people have moved to Phillips — and for some good reasons, not the least of which it is so much more useful.
🐇I just don’t want to learn a whole new thing. Why did they change everything, it was so simple before?
🐙Well, you’re not learning a whole new thing. It is basically the same, it just looks a little different.
🐇But mine is simple, flat; yours is instantly twice as much stuff, It’s so much more complex.
🐙It’s not mine, this is just how things are designed now. There are a lot of advantages to this design.
🐇I don’t see how something can be easier than just a flat edge. The screwdriver is flat, and the screws are flat. That is about as simple as it gets.
🐙That sounds true, but it’s not. Sure, the UI is simpler, but the UX is much worse and even more dangerous.
🐇More fancy words! What are UI and UX?
🐙Sorry, UI is User Interface, as in — what it looks like. We agree, that a flathead looks very simple. But the UX, or User Experience — is pretty bad. With the flathead, there are lots of things that go wrong.
One has to line it up exactly every single time. And if you make a mistake, it can destroy things, gouge surfaces, or even worse, you can cut yourself, and you have to be very careful every single time. This takes time and energy constantly. You may not realise how much you're doing that you don’t need to.
One also has to make sure they are perfectly perpendicular to the screw as you put it in or take it out, or these bad things can happen. The cool thing about the Phillips is that by being shaped like a crosshair and having a pointed tip, it slides easily right into the centre of the screw head every time; no gauging, no getting cut. And, it is much easier to turn it because it has much better gripping strength, and you can be more relaxed, even putting a screw in or taking one out at a bit of angle; much more freedom.
See? Almost everything about this is way better!
🐇But, where’s the handle?
🐙Same place.
🐇Oh, I see, I was looking at it backwards.
🐙💭
🐙It is almost the exact same as a flathead screwdriver, the only thing that is really different is the tip.
🐇Do they have small ones and big ones like my flathead?
🐙They have all the same ones that you have with your flathead. Again, truly, it is only the tip that is different.
🐇Ok, let me try.
uh…
Nope!
These Phillip head screws don’t work!
🐙They do, but you’re trying to use the flathead screwdriver on them. You do have to use the Philips head with the Phillip head screws.
🐇What about backwards compatibility?
🐙You can keep your old flathead screwdriver for when you need it. But they offer a feature where you have both flathead and Phillips in one device. You can just flip the tips when you need to. They are also about the same price. The handle hides a reversible shaft with large and small flat and Phillip’s head tips.
🐇The handle already confused me, and now you’re telling me it is even more complex.
🐙…💭… uh, so, perhaps I can help you just try it, and see how it feels?
🐇You’re saying I need to replace all my screws now?
🐙No, you don’t need to replace anything. Most things use Phillips now, so that is simple. And when you’re dealing with older things, you can use the flathead. It’s up to you if you want to upgrade the screws from flathead to Phillips. There is rarely a need to worry about this though.
🐇What am I going to do with all the flathead screws I already have?
🐙leave them where they are. Again, you only need them if you are dealing with something from the past.
🐇So you like Phillips best, this is what you use?
🐙No, I prefer and use Torx, but you’re not ready for that conversation.
Note — yes, I know it is actually called a slotted drive, but, come on you bloody nerd, most people don’t know that.
