The future of parking meters: too complicated for most people?

Apparently drivers in Detroit are finding themselves flummoxed by the new Internet-connected,
solar-powered parking meters being testing there that let you pay by cash, cellphone, debit, or credit card:

"You need a master's degree or something," said Robert Blackwell as he tried to figure out how to use one of the
new meters. "All I'm trying to do is not get a parking ticket." Karen Zarza was lucky she had her 10-year-old son,
Joshua, with her when she parked near the federal courthouse. He figured it out in a snap. Zarza said she stared at
the silver box and didn't know what to do. "I think they're silly," she said. "I like the old ones. I'm
old-fashioned, I guess."