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   June 29, 2023
   [38]Editors' notes

   This article has been reviewed according to Science X's [39]editorial
   process and [40]policies. [41]Editors have highlighted the following
   attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

   fact-checked

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   proofread

We are wasting up to 20% of our time on computer problems, says study

   by [42]University of Copenhagen
   computer Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

   Even though our computers are now better than 15 years ago, they still
   malfunction 11%–20% of the time, a new study from the University of
   Copenhagen and Roskilde University concludes. The researchers behind
   the study therefore find that there are major gains to be achieved for
   society by rethinking the systems and involving users more in their
   development.

   An endlessly rotating beach ball, a program that [43]crashes without
   saving data or systems that require illogical procedures or simply do
   not work: Unfortunately, struggling with computers is still a familiar
   situation for most of us. Tearing your hair out over computers that do
   not work remains very common among users, according to new Danish
   research.

   In fact, so much that on average, we waste 11%–20% of our time in front
   of our computers on systems that do not work or that are so difficult
   to understand that we cannot perform the task we want to. And this is
   far from being good enough, says Professor Kasper Hornbæk, one of the
   researchers behind the study.

   "It's incredible that the figure is so high. However, most people
   experience frustration when using computers and can tell a horror story
   about an important PowerPoint presentation that was not saved or a
   system that crashed at a critical moment. Everyone knows that it is
   difficult to create IT systems that match people's needs, but the
   figure should be much lower, and one thing that it shows is that
   [44]ordinary people aren't involved enough when the systems are
   developed," he says.

   Professor Morten Hertzum, the other researcher behind the study,
   emphasizes that most frustrations are experienced in connection with
   the performance of completely ordinary tasks.

   "The frustrations are not due to people using their computers for
   something highly advanced, but because they experience problems in
   their performance of everyday tasks. This makes it easier to involve
   users in identifying problems. But it also means that problems that are
   not identified and solved will probably frustrate a large number of
   users," says Morten Hertzum.

The problems are only too recognizable

   To examine this issue, the researchers have been assisted by 234
   participants who spend between six and eight hours in front of a
   computer in their day-to-day work.

   During one hour, the researchers told them to report the situations in
   which the computer would not work properly, or where the participants
   were frustrated about not being able to perform the task they wanted.

   The problems most often experienced by the participants included: "the
   system was slow," "the system froze temporarily," "the system crashed,"
   "it is difficult to find things." The participants had backgrounds such
   as student, accountant, consultant, but several of them actually worked
   in the IT industry.

   "A number of the participants in the survey were IT professionals,
   while most of the other participants were highly competent IT and
   computer users. Nevertheless, they encountered these problems, and it
   turns out that this involves some fundamental functions," says Kasper
   Hornbæk.

   The participants in the survey also responded that 84% of the episodes
   had occurred before and that 87% of the episodes could happen again.
   And, according to Kasper Hornbæk, we are having the same fundamental
   problems today that we had 15–20 years ago.

   "The two biggest categories of problems are still about insufficient
   performance and lack of user-friendliness," he says.

   Morten Hertzum adds, "Our technology can do more today, and it has also
   become better, but at the same time, we expect more from it. Even
   though downloads are faster now, they are often still experienced as
   frustratingly slow. "
   [INS: :INS]

88% use a computer at work

   According to Statistics Denmark, 88% of Danes used computers, laptops,
   smartphones, tablets or other mobile devices at work in 2018. In this
   context, the new study indicates that a half to a whole day of a normal
   working week may be wasted on computer problems.

   "There is a lot of productivity lost in workplaces throughout Denmark
   because people are unable to perform their ordinary work because the
   computer is not running as it should. It also causes a lot of
   frustrations for the individual user," says Kasper Hornbæk.

   This means that there are major benefits to be gained for society if we
   experienced fewer problems in front of our computers. According to
   Kasper Hornbæk, the gains can, for example, be achieved if more
   resources are invested in rethinking how faults are presented to us on
   the computer.

   "Part of the solution may be to shield us from knowing that the
   computer is working to solve a problem. In reality, there is no reason
   why we need to look at an incomprehensible box with commands or a
   frozen computer. The [45]computer could easily solve the problems
   without displaying this, while it provided a back-up version of the
   system for us, so that we could continue to work with our tasks
   undisturbed," says Kasper Hornbæk.

   At the same time, IT developers should involve the users even more when
   designing the systems to make them as easy to use—and understand—as
   possible, because according to the researcher, there are no poor IT
   users, only poor systems.

   "When we're all surrounded by IT systems that we're cursing, it's very
   healthy to ascertain that it's probably not the [46]users that are the
   problem, but those who make the systems. The study clearly shows that
   there is still much room for improvement, and we therefore hope that it
   can create more focus on making more user-friendly systems in the
   future," concludes Kasper Hornbæk.

   More information: Morten Hertzum et al, Frustration: Still a Common
   User Experience, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (2023).
   [47]DOI: 10.1145/3582432
   Provided by [48]University of Copenhagen
   Citation: We are wasting up to 20% of our time on computer problems,
   says study (2023, June 29) retrieved 3 July 2023 from
   https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06-problems.html
   This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for
   the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced
   without the written permission. The content is provided for information
   purposes only.
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