Classic nightmare: A paper is due Monday. This is not just any paper, this is a TEN pager that counts for a significant amount of your grade. Guess what happens next... yep, you got it! The computer that the paper is saved on won't turn on come Sunday morning. This was me last semester, and you can only imagine my panic when I realized that I was nine pages into the paper. I went through my usual problem solving technique when it comes to computers: I called my dad as I furiously pushed the power button with increasing force as if the amount of pressure applied would jump start my computer like CPR. If I had taken a step back I may have realized that I was facing a mental set- I thought the only solution was to push the power button over and over. However, after handing my computer over to the IT expert in T Hall, I realized that taking out the computer's battery for a minute could also solve the problem....duh! Next time I will try to focus on ALL the possible solutions rather than trying one over and over helplessly. 
I love how we often all are quick to push the panic button. I have done this exact thing before. We do get stuck in this frame of mind that the world is going to end. However, people who don't panic and look for various alternatives are more capable of being put into more stressful situations (ex. paramedics, stock brokers, surgeons). I think as we age are experiences can help us overcome this mental set especially if we face it repeatedly. But last minute problems that could impact a grade, event, or relationship, can make anyone gain a few gray hairs!
This post definitely made me laugh and think of..MYSELF! I do this all the time when I am just stupid and so panicked enough to even realize I just need to plug my macbook in to the wall because the battery is dead. I feel like I encounter several mental sets a day panicking about little, unnecessary things, maybe I should start charging my computer more often and I won't experience the same thing as you! And realize these mental sets will no longer get the best of me!
I think that everybody has experienced a similar scenario to this one at some point or another. I know I have!! I liked how you were able to relate the obstacle of problem solving known as a mental set to a story that not only you have experienced, but a story that almost any college student can relate to. The post was very entertaining and easy to follow, however I would have liked for you to have expanded more on the topic of mental sets (or problem solving in general), so that the rest of us could have had more insight into the concept. Otherwise I thought this was a great post!!
It was funny how you incorporated the mental set with a humorous example it made it very fun to read. This post was dead on with some things that have happened to me too, as far as frustration situations that are crammed for time. Very nice post, I found it very funny to read with also incorporating a very good concept.
Great post! I have been in a very similar situation before and I know how anxious you must have gotten. This was a good example of a mental set and I liked how you used an example that many people will have experience in. I've realized that technology is a great thing, but when it fails, everything seems to be going down the drain. It'd be weird to live in a world without cellphones or computers, but we will have to deal with the occasional problems that it endures, too. Great post and I liked the picture.
This post was fun to read because I can relate so very well. When you don't have a deep understanding of how something works (such as computers) and something goes wrong, it's always even more difficult to break out of this mental set. More than not, the solution is painfully simple once you're offered the correct solution and you end up either kicking yourself for your stupidity, or laughing in relief that you're not going to fail a class on a technicality.
Ha I think we can all relate to this! How quickly we panic, and jump to the wrong conclusion. This also made me think of how many times we click a button on the computer (while browsing the internet or whatever), but we KNOW it won't make the computer any faster, and the computer is just thinking. We just get click happy.