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Many Workers Need Help Turning Computers On

Studies

from the how-about-that-big-button-right-there dept

Fri, Sep 5th 2003 1:56am — Mike Masnick
It appears that plenty of office workers are still quite uncomfortable with their computers. A new study has suggested that one in seven office workers doesn't even know how to turn their computer on. About 20% needed help in saving or printing a document. Companies are spending quite a bit of money employing extra IT staff just to help with these sorts of basic issues. Of course, I do wonder a little about this study. These are all the sorts of tasks that you really only need to be taught once: "You see that button? Good! Now, press it." Also, there's no indication what job functions these people held, so it's tough to determine if this really is a big deal.
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7 Comments

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  • identicon
    " Your Computer, 5 Sep 2003 @ 7:37am

    No Subject Given

    ... and each and every one of those 7 idiots works in my office ...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      westpac, 5 Sep 2003 @ 8:18am

      not surprised at all

      I had a boss who had no concept of how "cut" and "paste" worked. Every month I had to go to his office to copy a chunk of boilerplate text out of a spreadsheet from the previous month and paste it onto the new one he'd received from contracts. This went on until he retired. He had no clue how to do the simplest things on his PC, but every year I had to order him a brand-new high-end PC while the worker bees toiled away on decrepit systems.

      The new boss wasn't much better. When he was ready to go home every night he simply switched the battery pack off without shutting Windows down. I couldn't get him to quit doing that even after he trashed the Windows registry and ended up losing some a lot of proprietary files.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wayne, 5 Sep 2003 @ 8:20am

    No Subject Given

    "These are all the sorts of tasks that you really only need to be taught once"

    In theory, yes. In practice, no. Additionally, if these people need help turning the thing on, they definately keep the help desk staff in jobs with plenty of other similarly complicated tasks.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 5 Sep 2003 @ 9:13am

      To Be Fair

      I have a EE and have been using computers for nearly two decades. HOWEVER, the first time I had to turn on my wife's iMac, it took me five minutes to find the little, recessed button on the back of the machine. Since it was recessed, a casual glance behind the computer didn't reveal it. It wasn't until I turned the whole thing around and got it in good light could I find it.

      Now the issue is could I find it a second time, the answer is yes.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Wayne, 5 Sep 2003 @ 11:43am

        Re: To Be Fair

        And you're not the average office dolt either.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 5 Sep 2003 @ 4:31pm

        Re: To Be Fair

        We just had the exact same problem with an eMac. Here we were, three or more techy guys at a software development shop, randomly pressing buttons and fiddling with things to try to get the darn power on. In my non-humble opinion, this is a design flaw. The darn button was flush with the case, white on white, and facing down and away from the user.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bastard SAM, 5 Sep 2003 @ 8:22pm

    Nature, not nurture.

    I think the problem is the baby boomers. They can't help it. It's just not in their nature. But they're retiring soon. The younger generations, even in rural areas, are a lot more literate in this regard.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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