Sunday, November 08, 2009
Men’s desire to dominate their technology does not include simply reading the instructions first. A survey conducted by the Gadget Helpline in the United Kingdom found 64% of its male callers didn’t bother to check the manual before phoning for assistance. In contrast, more than 75% of female callers had checked the booklet before turning to the helpline.
The numbers also showed that 12% of men simply needed to plug in their device to fix the problem, whereas only 7% of female customers fell into the same category. Women tended to spend 32% longer on the phone with the customer service representatives, most of whom (66%) preferred speaking to females than males.
Joanna Bawa, psychologist and editor of the Usability News website, told the BBC that men prefer to treat technology as something to be understood and conquered, while women are more interested in how appliances are going to help their lives.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Gadget Problems Divide the Sexes (BBC News)
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