Research has revealed eight million Brits have broken gadgets out of frustration and impatience.
We have all been let down by troublesome technology, which is infuriating, as it shouldn’t be as unreliable as it actually is.
When my phone or laptop refuses to play, I normally slam a few buttons until it behaves, which it eventually does.
However, understandably some people have attempted to destroy their gadgets when they encounter problems, losing their cool after an average of 12 minutes of trying to fix the issue.
Commissioned by Wiztek, a provider of online and mobile tech support, OnePoll discovered 15 per cent of the 2,000 adults they surveyed have attempted to destroy their technological gadgets when they encounter issues.
These problems include intermittent Wi-Fi, endless pop-up adverts and patience-testing paper jams, with a third of those polled admitting they get so fed-up, they purchase a completely new device rather than getting the unreliable one repaired.
Paul Amsellem, CEO of Wiztek, said:
Tech is an integral part of lives – whether it be through our jobs or through our home lives.
And as such, we’d be significantly hampered in our daily lives – unable to check emails for important messages, use satnav to successfully get from A to B or to keep track of appointments.
So when our devices stop working or don’t operate as they should it understandably becomes very frustrating.
Paul’s right, it can be frustrating, with one in five admitting they take their anger out on others by falling out with their other half as a result.
Problems with technology would be easier to address if we knew how to fix them, but 47 per cent of those polled said they are not very knowledgeable when it comes to resolving the issues.
In fact three in 10 revealed they have only made the problem worse by attempting to fix the issue, so it is no wonder three quarters of Brits have turned to someone else for help.
Amsellem correctly described resolving tech issues as a ‘minefield’:
Tech and computing issues are such a minefield – there’s so many possible causes to everyday problems, even the most knowledgeable of people can get stumped from time to time.
Downtime from tech problems can lead to many wasted hours and in today’s society where we are all so busy, time costs money.
Maybe next time then seek professional support, rather than hammering at the keyboard until the damn thing works!
The free Wiztek app is available to download from iTunes and Google Play.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk
