Tech support says 64% of the men and 24% of the women who call didn't read the manual before doing so. Caveat: tech support is actually a "gadget helpline" that costs $3 a month. [BBC]
Tech support!
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I'm happy to see the stereotype of men not reading manuals actually proven by numbers!
I had a conversation about this last night at the Museum of Printing- someone remarked on how quickly so many young women seem to be learning how to do letterpress printing as compared with how long it used to take guys to learn back in day when it was the main type of commercial printing. I suggested the reason for that is that we (young women printers) read the books and the manuals, combined with 'doing it for love' vs 'doing it because it's your job.'
I am happy to say I am in the the 36% of men who do read the manual. I also ask for directions when lost.
traitor!
I'm going to generalize and say it's because of the male biological imperative not to take ownership of existing problems, but to go out a create new problems.
What's the breakdown for people who think it's silly to pay 3GBP (not $) per month for a "gadget helpline"?
I've seen this on forums and in previous jobs for years - you might have written exactly the solution to a person's problem before, they may have read it, but they won't actually DO it until you've *personally* given the solution to *them*.
In the job situation we had a policy of just copy/pasting the relevant bit of the manual into an email when this came up, and the person almost invariably walked away happy. Geez.
With forums, I'm not sure if it's a gender thing or if it's just general human laziness, but yes, you definitely see a lot of people who haven't even tried to look for the answer. My favorite is when they outright say in their post, "I'm sure there's a post about it somewhere, but I don't have time to look." Well, I'm glad we all have the time to do your work for you and that you can't take five minutes to search the forums.
Are these the same sort of people who go on social assistance because they can't be bothered to work?
You don't even see all the anonymous demands for free research.
"Shut down the machine. Turn it off. Disconnect the power cord from the wall. Disconnect the power cord from the machine. Clean the power contacts on the machine with a pencil eraser. Plug the cord back into the machine. Plug the other end of the cord back into the wall. Turn it on and start it up. Did that help?"
-- Rumored to be the standard script one large company used as an alternative to "did you plug it in and turn it on?", so the customer didn't have to admit to gross stupidity.
Some things not brought up but could impact the numbers:
This sounds like a separate pay service, so maybe more men think "I'm paying for it, why not use it?" This could mean more men look at it as paying 3GBP per month to have someone else read the manual.
How many of the calls from men are because their female partner has asked for his help? From seeing very bizarre interactions between couples, I don't doubt the continued existence of self-imposed gender roles.
Now a comment on: 'My favorite is when they outright say in their post, "I'm sure there's a post about it somewhere, but I don't have time to look." Well, I'm glad we all have the time to do your work for you and that you can't take five minutes to search the forums.'
I have googled problems many times and gotten a first hit to a forum post that is exactly this. Inevitably, all the following posts talk about searching for the answer, which I just did. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Try searching IN the relevant forum - just Googling does not constitute searching for an existing answer IN a forum.
Or maybe go beyond the first hit?
Or perhaps you couldn't be bothered to do either.
Why would any Fool waste time reading Manuals
when the Service is Free to call & ask :)
so let the Seller do all the Hard work lol
Or have Retailers give more Details
& Explain better :)
Of course. They're paying so they don't have to read manuals. Why pay for something you're not going to use? Sounds like something a woman would do.
I worked in tech support for a few years in college. I think the gender divide comes down to male ego. Everybody makes dumb mistakes, but a lot of guys just won't admit it to others or themselves that that is all that has happened. I looked at the stats in TFA and they definitely rang true.
if you've agreed to pay $3 a month for a gadget helpline that's open 24/7, then it would seem easier to not read the manual and call the helpline, else why pay the money?