Having Technical Difficulties, you are not alone

The holidays are coming and a whole new season of gadgets. Of course that means hard to follow instructions, difficult help desk support and just general frustration. You may be interested to know you are not alone in your technical difficulties. Just in from a recent survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project,³ nearly half (48%) of adults who use the Internet or have a cell phone say they usually need someone else to set up a new device up for them or show them how to use it. And many users of various devices and services encounter breakdowns from time to time. Specifically:

• 44% of those with home Internet access say their connection failed to work properly for them at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 39% of those with desktop or laptop computers have had their machines not work properly at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 29% of cell phone users say their device failed to work properly at some time in the previous year.
• 26% of those with Blackberries, Palm Pilots or other personal digital assistants say they have encountered a problem with their device at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 15% of those with an iPod or MP3 player say their devices have not worked properly at some time in the prior year.