according to a new survey from Gadget Helpline. The company exists purely to help solve people’s problems with gadgets, be they games consoles, televisions, or mobile phones. You pay a monthly fee and you’ll have someone ready on the end of a phone to help you deal with the increasingly complicated gadgets that are released each year.
In a recent study, Gadget Helpline found that 64 percent of its male callers and 24 percent of its female callers had not read the instruction manual before phoning up for help. What’s more, 12 percent of male callers and 7 percent of female callers turned out to just need to plug their gadget in or switch it on.
This shows a clear difference in the way the genders approach a new gadget and how they interact with it. Joanna Bawa, chartered psychologist and editor of the Usability News website, told BBC News:
There is evidence of a gender divide in technology, although a lot of it comes down to interpretation. In general terms men treat technology as something to be understood and conquered while women are more motivated by appliances that benefit them.
Which, for me at least, translates as “A man will tinker until a device does what he wants it to do while a woman will realize the device is in charge.†Clearly, a woman’s approach is best, especially in reading the instructions before even attempting to operate a gadget.
