e-Rage: Some Surprising Facts
by Ian McPherson

If you're reading this, you've experienced it; e-rage. The frustration that comes with a network outage, PC breakdown or equipment failure. The frustration that can lead to raised voices, telephone-hurling and physical computer abuse. Reactions may vary, country to country, company to company, and person to person, but our growing reliance upon computerisation and networking can have a serious effect on our temperament.

A recent European survey, commissioned by Citigate Technology and executed by Dimension Data, reveals some surprising facts. The survey was conducted across nine countries and 450 people, and focused on middle to senior managers from finance, sales, human resources, personnel, purchasing, marketing and general office management.

The findings were eye-opening. 77 percent of people rely "heavily" upon a fully-functioning IT system to perform their jobs. 43 percent claimed to be “totally” reliant and 34 percent claimed to be “mostly” reliant upon their systems. 64 percent of respondents felt that the IT department should be responsible, while 23 percent of respondents disagreed, seeing it as a matter for the boardroom.

Over ninety percent of all respondents said they lose time during an average week because of IT problems. In 8 per cent of cases, people lost in excess of 3 hours per week, and this figure is even worse in the UK (5.6 hours) and Belgium (6.4 hours). In Britain alone, this would equate to business losses of £10 billion each year.

So how do most companies respond to a network outage? Not well. On average, 14 percent of employees stop working altogether during a network failure. This figure rises to a staggering 55 percent in Spain, while the Germans are most likely to remain productive, with 98 percent continuing to work on non-IT dependent tasks.

Many managers also suffer from e-rage, with 15-25 per cent admitting that they shout at colleagues. But behaviour isn't limited to shouting. 10 percent said that they "hit" their PC. Nine percent said that they "throw down their phones". And 8 percent "hit their keyboards" in frustration. The more mild-mannered and practical respondents, such as the Spanish and Swiss, packed their bags and went home early.

But not everyone is mild mannered. George Doughty, a Tavern owner from Lafayette, Colorado, is looking at jail time after recently shooting his Dell laptop in a fit of e-rage. Lafayette Police report that George decided to teach it a lesson with his handgun, although it is not clear what the Dell had done wrong.

He put the laptop on the floor of his Tavern, shot it several times and hung it on the wall "like a hunting trophy," according to Boulder's Daily Camera newspaper. Police weren't too worried about the shooting of the laptop, but they were very concerned that it occurred in front of several Tavern patrons. Doughty faces charges of felony menacing, reckless endangerment and the prohibited use of weapons.

In the European survey, one out of 10 PC users admitted to abusing their PCs when they malfunctioned. It's called e-rage. And as George Doughty has discovered, it's not a laughing matter.

A note on the Archibald Prize

The organisers for the Archibald Prize for Portraiture, one of Australia's oldest and most prestigious art competitions, have announced the finalists for judging. Sydneysiders can view the finalists between March 22 and May 25 (excluding Good Friday, April 18), at the Art Gallery of NSW, Lower Level 1, in the Domain (map). Tickets are $8 for adults, $3 for kids and booked school groups, and $6 for concessions. Next month in NetNacs Down Under, we'll take a look at the winners :) Visit the Archibald Prize website.

See you all in the next issue! 

Ian McPherson
DownUnder Editor