"To me it felt like it was just telling me about the item I just scanned and did not know what the timer was for." This is great! Because this points out a couple of things. 1. the skill is the first thing you see so I can see that it looked like the scan result (maybe if it was more hidden it'd been more obvious if you scanned a really different item) 2. It highlights the initial idea to have players look around for items is misleading to the player, what we were going for was to have players look around to get a feel for item locations but a lot of people just went to pick up items and now that I know that flow it makes a lot more sense to me why people were getting confused. Even though the dialogue says to check the scanner pc again that's taken in a different perspective.
Your idea would have been perfect! However, since game jam is completed, I'm now going to look at reworking the way the game is presented to be better because I have time. The main change entails removing the timer and focusing more on self exploration with voice audio so it becomes more immersive. :)
Thanks a lot for clarifying what was bugging me with the confusion haha, it really does make sense now though. :D