Men, women deal differently with technological problems

According to a gadget helpline, 64 percent male and 24 percent female callers do not read the instruction manual before calling up, and that 12 percent male and 7 percent female customers need only plug in or turn on their appliances.

Gadget Helpline surveyed 75,000 calls received between September 25 and October 23, 2009, and it found that 120,000 of its subscribers in UK, are over the age of 35.

The survey showed that women spent 32 percent longer on the phone to their helpers than men - but 66 percent of the helpline staff preferred speaking to them.

"There is evidence of a gender divide in technology, although a lot of it comes down to interpretation," the BBC quoted Joanna Bawa, chartered psychologist and editor of the Usability News website, as saying.

In general terms, men treat technology as something to be understood and conquered while women are more motivated by appliances that benefit them.

Gadget Helpline's founder and chief executive Crispin Thomas said the company's busiest times are Monday mornings and Boxing Day.

Getting gadgets to communicate with each other was the subject of a large number of requests for help.

"Syncing one gadget with another causes problems," he said.

Newly released products also seem to cause teething problems - many of Thomas' customers had difficulty setting up their Blu-Ray players in 2008 when they first became mass market.

He does not believe that appliances are becoming more complicated, but thinks that they are expected to do a lot more.

"Generally speaking, in a production run, 5 percent of appliances will contain a manufacturing fault," he stated.

"But 15 percent - 20 percent get taken back to the shop for return," he added. (ANI)

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