Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Rage against the machine

Photo: Abhijit Dev Kumar

Techno troubles You might even give up out of frustration

You’ve been slogging every evening for the past two weeks after office hours on a PowerPoint presentation for the next meeting. This presentation even holds that possibility of a potential promotion.

And now that you are almost done, you feel exhilarated. But then, there is a technical glitch and your system crashes. Enraged at losing all your data and at the fact that you don’t have time to start from scratch, have you gotten so frustrated that you actually physically attacked the computer? If your answer is yes, then you probably suffer from what has been termed ‘computer rage.’

A recent study shows that more than half of Britons are suffering from this condition wherein they become so annoyed with their computer equipment that they tend to verbally or physically attack the machines to vent their anger.

The cause for the anger against computers has been discovered to be linked to unsatisfactory work progress and time pressure. Here too, people say they are equally susceptible to computer rage.

Dhivij, a software engineer says, “There has always been a good amount of stress involved in jobs where people have to work with computers.The economic slowdown has added to our woes. With colleagues getting laid off and higher expectations of competency set by the bosses, when things don’t work how they must, we get aggravated and attack our systems.”

Some say it is normal to get mad at something when it doesn’t function properly. According to Melita, a college student, “There are times we even bang our T.V. sets when we are watching our favourite program and there is a problem with the cable connection.”

Suraj Gopal, another engineer points out, “The violence exhibited varies depending on where a person is. While at home, we tend to physically attack the computer; in the workplace it involves mostly verbal abuse. Apart from not having the required work ready on time, one doesn’t want to damage office equipment lest he must compensate for it out of his own pocket.”

Anger is expressed in different ways. Industrial Psychologist Manvi Trivedi explains, “Most often, we express anger towards what actually causes the problem, in this case computers.

This is done physically as in breaking the system, scratching the screen, pulling out wires randomly, and verbally as in using abusive language. However, there are times when anger is expressed in the form of giving up out of irritation. People stop doing what they are doing because they do not see much point in taking the trouble to redo something, especially when an anomaly of the same sort is likely to occur again.”

She adds, “At other times, people tend to express this frustration towards their colleagues or subordinates. Yelling at people in the workplace is common, even firing an employee happens at the spur of the moment, although this usually takes place when an organization is of a smaller size.”

What happens most often is that this anger, if not vented towards the machine or people at the workplace is brought back home and the spouse bears the consequences of a malfunctioning machine!

“Those who don’t harm their computers harm themselves in one way or the other,” observes Suraj. Being hard pressed for time, increasing workload, non-cooperation of colleagues at the workplace, lack of adequate technical ability to set right the problem and old and faulty equipment are some of the most important reasons people attribute to what drives them to rage at a machine.

Age apparently also has a lot to do with the expression of anger towards machines. According to Laxman Rai, manager of a firm, “Younger people are more susceptible than older people to computer rage.

It is usually the young employees who lack patience and expect everything to come out perfect the very first time they set out to do a particular job.”

Hard drive

Physically or verbally attacking your computer is termed as computer rage

Age has a lot to do with the expression of anger towards machines

The cause of anger is linked to unsatisfactory work progress and time pressure.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail