Americans are constantly breaking up and making up with their tech. Ninety-seven percent of Americans have experienced frustration with their tech, according to new research by Asurion, the global leader in helping people unlock the potential of technology1.
The poll examined the tech habits of 2,000 Americans found more than 80 percent experience some type of tech frustration on a daily basis. Over half of Americans (53 percent) experience up to 5 tech frustrations a day. And nearly one in three (30%) get frustrated with their personal tech more than 5 times a day.
These trying moments can pull us away from our everyday activities. In fact, more than 40 percent report spending more than 10 minutes per tech incident sorting out their woes.
No one wants to spend such a large part of their day trying to get their tech to work the way it should. After all, it’s the very thing that’s supposed to make our lives easier,” said Bettie Colombo, spokesperson for Asurion, the global leader in helping people unlock the potential of technology.
The study, conducted in conjunction with OnePoll, examined the common tech stresses and found that Wi-Fi was the number one culprit that caused tech frustration, with four out of five Americans reporting being very frustrated or somewhat frustrated with dropped or slow connections.
The inability to connect to Wi-Fi was the second biggest driver of frustration. Thirty-eight percent said they were very frustrated by this, with another 34 percent reporting they were somewhat frustrated. Tied for third place was slow downloads and buffering, and having issues logging in to the device or app.
Nearly 71 percent of people said they were very frustrated or somewhat frustrated by these specific issues. Other notable tech frustrations include forgetting passwords, and having the computer, app or program crash.
Sixty-four percent of those studied revealed their frustrations over calls breaking up, and a further 57 percent admitted to becoming frustrated when dealing with photo or video storage issues.
And while 67 percent say they are very careful not to drop their devices, the TLC we show our tech has a breaking point. Nearly 60 percent of Americans who experience tech frustrations have gone so far as to throw their offending device. More than half (55 percent) threw them so hard that they broke.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s a Wi-Fi and connection issue, your laptop is crashing, or your smart home automation speaker won’t talk to your streaming device or TV. Our tech experts will help,” added Colombo. “They understand that you don’t have time to figure out what isn’t working right then to get it back up and running. That’s why they’ll hop on a call or chat with you within 15 seconds to help sort it out. Because quite frankly, you’ve got better things to do with your tech.”
Top 10 Tech Frustrations
Top 5 Most Frustrating Tech Devices
Daily Tech Frustrations
1Random double-opt in online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in March 2019 for Asurion by OnePoll, a market research company and corporate member of ESOMAR and adheres to the MRS code of conduct.
.rp-table table td { padding: 0; }