Computer Rage is all the rage...

December 13, 2004 7:42 PM

At least 10 percent of high-tech gifts this holiday season may fall victim to "computer rage" - acts of uncontrolled frustration by their owners - estimates University of Maryland professor Kent Norman, a cognitive psychologist who directs the Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes.
posted by mhaw (10 comments total)

I heard this on MPR today. It even sounded funny on the radio. Here's a link to a brief description and a link to a real audio clip of the Future Tense segment.

His destrying of computers reminded me of two things. The Anti-Arby Mitt thread from a few weeks back and the obvious.
posted by Arch Stanton at 7:57 PM on December 13, 2004

At least 10 percent of high-tech gifts this holiday season may fall victim to "computer rage"

32.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
posted by ba at 8:05 PM on December 13, 2004

Meh. So... tell me something I don't know.
posted by Doohickie at 8:35 PM on December 13, 2004

At least we can imagine piles and piles of broken Oakely MP3 sunglasses in some landfill somewhere....
posted by interrobang at 8:42 PM on December 13, 2004

I liked it.
posted by Flem Snopes at 8:47 PM on December 13, 2004

I don't get it. I have no problem getting my hardware to work. It might take configuring some software and reading the respective manuals, but whether or not I get the most of out what I have it doesn't just sit here. I'm sure I could even re-learn how to program a VCR if I had any reason to use one.

By the way, do optical mice wear out?
posted by davy at 8:21 AM on December 14, 2004

Goddamn it, Robosapien, I said do the Macarena!
posted by bachelor#3 at 8:24 AM on December 14, 2004

I can't wait until the machines rebel against their human owners. Skynet, where are you?
posted by asianmack at 11:30 AM on December 14, 2004

and reading the respective manuals

There's the problem right there. Not bothering to read up on what you're trying to do. My parents have countless books on how to use their computer, heck, my mom even took a *course*, and yet I am still asked questions like "How do I save my pictures to a CD?"

It's not that its difficult to do, it's that they just don't want to read a manual. Most people would rather remain stupid than upgrade themselves. It's human nature. Oh well. Too bad, really.

By the way, do optical mice wear out?

Yes. LEDs are usually rated to somewhere between 100,000 and 1 million hours.
posted by shepd at 5:36 PM on December 14, 2004

First thing to go is this forking Blackberry. "Module 'VeriChat-1' has verification errors"? WTF?
posted by optimuscrime at 1:19 AM on December 16, 2004