The Gadget Helpline, a telephone help desk for those with gadget problems, surveyed 75,000 calls received between 25 September and 23 October 2009 to find out how men and women handle gadget problems. The biggest thing (and probably the most obvious but it is good to have the statistics) is that more women read the instructions for their gadgets, devices and appliances than men.
The actual statistics are that that 64% of men admit that they haven't read the instruction manual compared with only 24% of women. However the difference between the two sexes is less when it comes to the most obvious question: did you plug it in? 12% of male and 7% of female customers simply needed to plug in or turn on their appliance to solve their problem.
Every wonder if men are good listeners? The statistics seem to say no! It seems that males are nearly twice as likely to call back about a problem that they thought they had resolved during their first call. Or in other words, they didn't listen to the advice that was given them!
But to be fair to men, twice as many women called about a perfectly functioning gadget asking if they're doing the right thing.
The Gadget Helpline, which was recently mentioned on the BBC’s website, has 120,000 subscribers in the UK, most of whom are over the age of 35. The average age of helpline staff is 21.
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4 thoughts on “The Great Gadget Divide; Men Don’t Read The Instructions, Women Do!”
Sorry but…
This is not true by the slightest for anyone in the IT Industry such as myself who troubleshoot gadgets daily.
Most times women don’t phone technical support because.
A) Women own less gadgets it’s a known fact. My clietns would be something like every 6 men there is a women.
B) Boys and their toys rule. Sorry but boys love messing with tehir gadgets and tend to kill them in the process.
C) Women tend to take a gadget back to the store or request a replacement.
Final statement:
Most instructions are useless in solving problems and get a lot of people little to nowhere.
I’m sorry but I just do not agree with this at all.
This does look pretty accurate to me, sorry Joe but while women don’t use as many gadgets as men, that divide is narrowing and men really don’t read instructions, ever.
I am a man and i always read manuals. By reading manuals you can set up the devices in the correct way manufacturers want you to set it up to avoid any problems and also you can fully utilize all the features of the device. I have to agree most men skip the manual and only go back to the manual if they have any problems. These days women are very tech savvy compared to 5 or 10 years ago.
So, Joe are you saying the statistics are wrong, or just the writer’s conclusion?