Computer glitches: More stressful than being ditched

"Work -- or the laptop gets it"

LONDON, (CNN) -- More workers feel stressed out by computers than those driven to distraction by traffic jams, queuing, and the in-laws -- and some find them even more stress-inducing than the end of a relationship, according to a survey.

Nearly one in five people, 17 percent, considered computer problems to be the same, or more, stressful than being left by a partner, the survey revealed this week.

It said an inability to get to grips with modern technology is taking great chunks out of our days, with one in four workers losing up to an hour each day.

Emma Sharvet, press officer at the UK counselling service Samaritans, said: "The personal relationship figures are not surprising. People are spending more time in the office.

"Callers will be talking to us about a relationship problem when actually the stress is possibly coming from work."

Computer problems may be more stressful than relationship break-ups for some, but others get more phased by cranky computers than by being stuck on public transport and taking care of screaming children, the survey said.

It is not clear how computer-rage compares with other major life upheavals such as marriage, moving house and changing job.

ICL, e-business services company, questioned 200 people for its survey "IT Day From Hell" and discovered the following:

· 38 percent found computer problems more stressful than being stuck, or delayed, on public transport, 28 percent considered it the same.

· 10 percent found computers more stressful than missing a flight on holiday, 6 percent said it was about the same.

· 30 percent found it more stressful than looking after a young child for a day, 20 percent about the same.

Rage against the machine

· 12 percent found it more stressful than being left by their partner, 5 percent about the same.

· 79 percent found it more stressful than queuing in a bank, 11 percent considered it about the same.

· 79 percent found it more stressful than waiting to be served in a busy bar, 10 per cent about the same.

· 68 percent found it more stressful than having to spend a weekend with a partner's parents, 9 percent about the same.

The stress is said to be down to the amount of time wasted on computer glitches -- caused mainly by the ignorance of the user.

Workers also manage to waste other peoples' time as well. The survey discovered that one-third of employees spend more than 30 minutes per week helping others with IT problems.

"About 80 percent of calls to our call centres are of a low technical nature," said David Chapman, outsourcing business manager for ICL.

"Twenty-five per cent of people, for example, were those forgetting their passwords. It is not really problems caused by IT departments, though they have a responsibility to make sure the system works properly, as do users to use it properly." Workers struggle most with PCs (47 percent); followed by the office network (45 percent); printers (43 per cent); e-mail access (30 percent); Internet access (13 per cent).

Professor Cary Cooper, BUPA professor of organisational psychology and health at the Manchester School of Management, said: "These results demonstrate the extent to which the computer has become a psychological umbilical chord connecting us to other people in the business world.

"It has become the main means of communication at work, above even the telephone.

"As a result, when our PCs do not work, or when we are without them, we get very stressed.

He added: "We can no longer ignore the psychological effects that PCs creates."

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