Over 14,000 people respond to survey about cursing or being violent to a computer; 9 Percent Admit to Hitting their PC with Another Object like Fist or Bat
Tettnang, February 8, 2011 – IT security expert Avira found during a consumer security survey of its computer users in December that almost two out of every five people worldwide have cursed at their computers at some point in the past. Ironically, almost the same amount of people admitted to never yelling at their computer during moments of frustration. In addition, 11 percent of respondents wished for a catastrophic act to happen to their PC, while 9 percent actually have hit their computer with another object (baseball bat, fist, etc.) and just three percent have actually picked up a computer and smashed it into the ground or against another object in disgust.
The sample size of the consumer security survey was a record 14,284 with a margin of error of +/- .82 percent. The questions were posed to Avira’s 100+ million customers worldwide, giving the survey an international flavor. Here are the results to Avira’s December security survey:
39% - Cursed or yelled at the computer out loud?38% - No! I would never yell at my computer, it is too sensitive. (I friendly try to encourage it working again...)?11% - Thought Wished for catastrophe to strike the company that makes your operating system software or computer?9% - Hit your computer with another object (fist, baseball bat, etc.)?3% - Actually thrown the computer to the ground or against a desk or other piece of furniture?“It is true that we tried to have some fun with this question of the month since it was December and traditionally many people are online shopping with some experiencing problems if a PC stops working or if they cannot access a website at the appropriate time,” said Elisabeth Rothbart, PR Manager, Avira. “I think the funny aspect to this question is that an equal number of people curse at their PC vs. being nice to them. There is probably some anger management factoid in the results some place, but we’ll worry about the PC side of things. I don’t recommend violence of any sort toward computers or anything else, but I can relate to the feelings of frustration.”
