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Computers Top BBC List of Stress Producers 286

Posted by CowboyNeal from the each-one-like-crying-babies dept.
twitter writes "The BBC is reporting results of a poll by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships that shows crashing computers to be one of the most common stresses and that it's actually killing people by driving them to drink and smoke. The quoted list has: 1. IT problems - 30%, 2. Change in financial status/personal injury - 24%, 3. Commuting - 20%. I've seen people take a smoke break when their computer pops a window and they lose an hour or two of work and admins taking their break straight from the bottle."
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Computers Top BBC List of Stress Producers More

Computers Top BBC List of Stress Producers

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  • Suspect Studies (Score:5, Funny)

    by Scareduck ( 177470 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:48PM (#14459854) Homepage Journal
    "Ah, my computer's crashed. Time to nip off to the pub..."

  • I work in IT... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DreadSpoon ( 653424 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:49PM (#14459857) Journal
    ... and I put alcohol in my cereal I eat before going to work.

    (And yes, I'm quite serious.)
    • I tried beer on Frosted Flakes once in college when I was out of milk.

      Not good.....
    • > ... and I put alcohol in my cereal I eat before going to work.

      Isn't merely waking [slashdot.org] up sufficient?

    • Re:I work in IT... (Score:3, Informative)

      by optikSmoke ( 264261 )
      A friend of mine put a bunch of beer in a mini-fridge that he also used for vodka (thus it was on the coldest setting). Next day, some had exploded. Result? Beer cereal! Ate the beer slush from a bowl with a spoon.
      • I've done this with Guinness Draught, delicious.

    • Re:I work in IT... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Lord Ender ( 156273 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @10:03PM (#14460304) Homepage
      I could see Bailey's in yout Cocco Puffs, but anything else and you've got a drinking problem...

    • They worked in IT... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Teun ( 17872 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @06:10AM (#14462108)
      The management of our US subsidiary decided to do a drugs test, everyone had to piss in a jar and as a result nearly the whole (7man) IT dept. was fired.

      The network hasn't been the same since.

      • [sarcasm]It's a good thing there's such a strong correlation between drug use and being a bad employee.[/sarcasm].

        Management needs to wake the fuck up, I know plenty of PhD's, lawyers, and all manner of highly intelligent people who use drugs on a regular basis, and are all fine, upstanding citizens who go to work on time every day and do a great job.

        If you want to see who is a problem employee based on non-work behavior, you're looking in the wrong place.

  • Hmm... (Score:2, Funny)

    by doxology ( 636469 )

    1. IT problems

    3. Commuting

    What about telecommuting?

  • Seen on side of Windows package: (Score:4, Funny)

    by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:51PM (#14459873)
    Surgeon General's warning: This product is an unstable, insecure piece of shit and will most likely drive you to suicide in sheer frustration.

  • are you kidding? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dotpavan ( 829804 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:52PM (#14459880) Homepage
    kidding right? because sometimes when I am stressed, porn on my comp is a great stress reliever
    • kidding right? because sometimes when I am stressed, porn on my comp is a great stress reliever

      Yeah sure, unless that pr0n is goatse or tubgirl on your desktop background "helpfully" installed by a co-worker... Unless that floats your boat... Ew...
    • because sometimes when I am stressed, porn on my comp is a great stress reliever

            But then again, porn on your comp when your wife/girlfriend/boss walks in the room is a fantastic source of stress...

  • I wonder... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ilvg2k ( 945524 )
    what is the frustration level of mac, linux, and microsoft users of all computer users.

  • I am going to go way out on a limb here (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Crowhead ( 577505 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:53PM (#14459886)
    And guess that the 27% of men and 23% of women who would "light up in such a situation" roughly coorelates to the percentage of smokers in England.

  • Relief (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hogwash McFly ( 678207 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:53PM (#14459889)
    The BBC is reporting results of a poll by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships that shows crashing computers to be one of the most common stresses

    The study also shows smashing computers to be one of the most common stress-relievers.

  • Which is it? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dekortage ( 697532 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:56PM (#14459917) Homepage

    From the article: "1. IT problems - 30% ... 2. Change in financial status/personal injury - 24%" Then later: "Over two thirds thought stress was simply having a 'bad day', 63% said it was dealing with difficult people and 58% saw stress as having too much to do." Okay, so which is it? 30% said IT problems were the top problem, but 63% said dealing with difficult people? Maybe the IT problems are caused by difficult people...?

    Elsewhere: Considering that most people - 79% - believe they have been stressed in the last year.... ONLY 79%?! Who are these 21% of people who haven't felt stressed in the last 365 days?

  • Blame Windows (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lheal ( 86013 ) <lheal1999NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:57PM (#14459932) Journal
    My wife called me today to try to recover a couple of hours work she lost when her computer crashed. It gave no warning, just rebooted. I tried walking her through finding any temp files that might have her work, but to no avail.

    "Sorry," I said, "that's just Windows. It crashes. That's why I don't like it." I looked up the uptime on the Sun workstation where I was: 121 days. RHEL4 Server: 122 days. Oh yeah, I did patch those last summer, around Labor Day.

    Computers don't crash: Windows does.

    If admins were honest with their users and didn't try to defend Windows or say that all operating systems crash just as much, the world would be a better place.

    • Re:Blame Windows (Score:2, Informative)

      by VX1984rr3 ( 745837 )
      I work on linux (redhat 7.2) and although I'm constrained to older libs due to company reasons, I have mozilla and system crashes at least once a week. My bro is a IT director for a book company and he has shared many a tale of apple system crashes too. Windows is crap, but it isn't the only software that crashes. I suppose even WinTel running VIM all the time prob won't crash (until it is hacked).

    • Re:Blame Windows (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ZorbaTHut ( 126196 )
      Windows doesn't crash.

      Applications crash. Drivers crash. Hardware crashes. Windows itself is quite stable. I had a 150-day uptime on the box I'm typing on right now (WinXP) until I had a power outage.

      I've seen drivers crash, and I've seen flaky hardware cause problems, and I've seen combinations of the two become an issue. But Windows itself? Pretty damn near rock solid. It gets a nice reputation for instability because so many manufacturers put it on bottom-basement gimpy hardware, but I seriously doubt Li

      • Re:Blame Windows (Score:5, Insightful)

        by KidHash ( 766864 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @09:52PM (#14460257) Homepage
        If you've ever had a 150 day uptime on a windows box, you're clearly not patching enough

        • Re:Blame Windows (Score:5, Informative)

          by kesuki ( 321456 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @10:47PM (#14460517) Journal
          That reminds me of the bug windows 95 had where it you left it running for 40 days it would crash. it only took them 6 years to reproduce the bug so they could fix it.

          XP at stock is very stable, though, but there is a wider problem in computing than just the 'OS' the electrical grid can have spikes (no problem a good PSU can protect you) and worse, undervoltages. there is Nothing (other than having massive redundent arrays of capacitors) that can be done about under voltaging, and even then it's just a matter of time before the undervolateges cause the capacitors to all blow... then we have people trying to plug everything on one 15 amp breaker that was designed when people had like a living room radio as 'entertainment'

          PC power and cooling is selling a PSU that can draw 38 amps from Each 12 volt rail. Dude, my OVEN only operates on 60 amps. but i guess if you want that quad sli setup so you can run battlfield 2 at full resolution on a 40" LCD screen... call an electrician, and have em put in some 60 amp wiring to where your pc plugs in...

          er, well there is more than just power issues there are 'reliability' a lot of technology is built on a 'pump and dump' model make it cheap as possible and who cares if it blows up, or sucks etc. they'll just buy more of the junk. still more hardware is designed and engineered broken, but it seems to work fine so they ship it and then find that it seems to work fine but only with one configuration of hardware etc.. it takes a lot of time and energy to really find out who's got a good solid product, and who's selling the flimsy ones.
        • I use Firefox and Thunderbird, and have a very restrictive BSD firewall between me and the Internet.

          I never said Windows was great on security - just that the core OS was stable.

          (Amusingly, I actually had to reboot my Linux server more recently than my Windows box - Debian updated glibc.)
        • If you need to download every patch, it's time to invest in a firewall.

      • Re:Blame Windows (Score:2, Interesting)

        by chocotof ( 691813 )
        Are you using a different version of windowsXP than I ? I run 99% of the time under Linux. Once in a while a game or so under XP. This is the list of current problems
        1. dit.exe popping up saying that I have media missing ? (about 10 dialogs)
        2. Although I have windows desktop keyboard I cannot get a non windows media player application to use the media keys.
        3. I use Window Powertoys desktop switching and once in a while (especially when I am using VC++ it takes literally half a hour or so to switch desktops.
        4. You
    • My wife called me today to try to recover a couple of hours work she lost when her computer crashed

      You haven't said anything about what program she was running, why an auto-save was not enabled or what caused the crash. To say "that's just Windows" is a bit of a cheat.

      • That's the thing though. He doesn't need to list the software. Software on Windows crashes so often and so badly (in comparison to any/all software on his Sun machine) the name of the software is redundant.

    • Re:Blame Windows (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dc29A ( 636871 )
      "Sorry," I said, "that's just Windows. It crashes. That's why I don't like it." I looked up the uptime on the Sun workstation where I was: 121 days. RHEL4 Server: 122 days. Oh yeah, I did patch those last summer, around Labor Day.

      Computers don't crash: Windows does.

      My dual BP6 Celeron 500 running on Windows XP sp1 crashed only when the ancient motherboard had some diodes that died. It ran my SSH server, IM client and Email client 24/h a day. Oh and it was my main download machine since it was on 24h a day.

    • Re:Blame Windows (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Flammon ( 4726 )
      Hey, I love Linux as much as the next guy. I've been using it on my desktop since 1996. Check out my Slashdot UID to see what I mean. Anyway, I just want to say that I've had ATI drivers - the proprietary closed source ones - crash my Linux box many times. The drivers can definitely lockup your PC no matter what OS you're running. You can even crash Linux with a simple one line bash script. I just want to say that the Windows crashing can't all be blamed on Windows. The drivers deserve some of the blame.
    • It is much more common to find Windows on flakey hardware. Much of the reputation Windows gets for instability should be directed at the hardware. Have you ever run Windows and Linux on the same hardware, and gamed from both of them? Linux games are MUCH more likely to lock up your interface than Windows games are.
    • No kidding dude. I've been using Windoze PCs exclusively for about 4 years now and have gotten entirely used to crashes, freezing, etc.

      Then I just bought a new Mac laptop last week (it's an iBook, for those of you about to laugh at me for getting a PowerBook when the new one was just released)...

      Now I remember why I used to so adamantly defend the Mac back in elementary school when all the kids made fun of me for using a Mac and thinking it kicked ass. It did. They still do. Now I remember why I told them t

    • Re:Blame Windows (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tverbeek ( 457094 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @10:52PM (#14460538) Homepage
      My wife called me today to try to recover a couple of hours work she lost when her computer crashed.

      The main problem here is that your wife is an idiot. She worked for a couple hours without saving her work... not even once during that time? Then she deserves to lose a couple hours' work. This is like complaining that your precious family heirlooms were stolen when you left them unattended in a busy location for a couple hours. I don't care if you're using Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or even some high-availability OS that Never Crashes. Unless your apps were written by God Himself, they will fail on you. This is a fact that anyone who has used a computer for more than a few months should understand. And if you can't be bothered to press Ctrl-S or Command-S from time to time, I can't be bothered to feel sorry for you when you lose your work.

      • You could just as well blame the application developers for providing no autosave feature.
        • You could just as well blame the application developers for providing no autosave feature.

          If you're going to go to that extreme, you might as well blame them for not coming over and pressing CTRL-S for you. Ultimate responsibility for saving documents lies with the user.

      • Re:Blame Windows (Score:5, Funny)

        by Darby ( 84953 ) on Friday January 13, 2006 @02:17AM (#14461454)
        Unless your apps were written by God Himself, they will fail on you.

        Don't rely on it even then, heck Jesus saves.

      • Re:Blame Windows (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Hosiah ( 849792 )
        Gnarly. I explain patiently to someone how to do something, and get flamed about it. You call people idiots for not doing something that the computer is supposed to do all by itself, and get modded up insightful. I'll never believe in the Slashdot moderation system again.

        Before I go to the detail of pointing out what a complete bastard you are, you need to get somebody to help you (because you're too fucking stupid to do this yourself) run the Emacs text editor on any Linux system. Have them create a file

    • A challenge for you: Put your wife in front of your precious Unix/Linux boxen. Put the equvialent applications on those boxes and let her run loose with them. Give her the same connectivity. Oh and don't forget she gets to be admin too. Lets see how stable they are in a month.

      See that's the problem. Narrow minded people like you that have managed to get a box stable for their own needs and automatically assume that if everyone else can't do the same for their purposes it must be because they've chosen an in
      • Oh and don't forget she gets to be admin too.

        What? Make her run Linspire? /sarcasm

        Why the heck would you grant administrator rights to a person that doesn't know how to admin the machine? I allow all of my friends to ride in my car but only people that can drive are allowed to operate it.

        If I configure a Windows system for someone I don't make them an admin unless they can actually handle the responsibility. Sadly, it doesn't stop all of the malware that can take down the whole system, not just things th
    • Pshaw, unix variants crash all the time when you try to use them for desktop (i.e. graphical) applications. If not the whole kernel than at least X. Yes, in server/command line land it's rock-solid but that's not the whole story.
    • I have 2 identical boxes at work. Very nice boxes. One runs FC4, the other runs XP. I have to generate some documents on the FC4 box and then move them to the XP box. Please tell me, why has OO.org crashed 4 times in the past 4 months? And why hasn't Office 2003 ... ever crashed? I'm performing the same operations. If anything I perform the more intensive operations on the XP box.

      My coworker has 1 box - FC4. For awhile it refused to boot - he'd have to restart it several times, it would hang up on mountin

  • Sometimes it takes a long time... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anna Merikin ( 529843 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:57PM (#14459933) Journal
    to see the obvious.

    It was not the GPL or being able to Use the Source that led me to Linux; it was Windows' misbehavior. I learned to love those other things later, after I found Linux to be much better behaved.

    I would much, much rather spend time learning and configuring Linux to my liking -- a positive feeling of success and pride -- than put up with Windows' flaws -- a feeling of failure and helplessness.

    Frankly, I didn't care whether I used BeOS (which I was considering at the time) BSD or Linux as long as it didn't crash all the time or get viruses (boot sector trojans were popular then.) As chance had it, my local computer store had a 5-linux-distro boxed set for sale for $20 USD, so Linux it was.

    I have been an enthusiastic Linux user and contributer ever since.

  • IT problems while commuting as a result of personal injury - 74%

  • X-Bender: What I don't do is none of your business (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @08:59PM (#14459949)
    Leela: Bender? My God, you're a mess!
    Bender: Leave me alone.
    Leela: Look at the 5:00 rust. You've been up all night not drinking, haven't you?
    Bender: Hey ... what I don't do is none of your business.
    Leela: Please, Bender, have some malt liquor. If not for yourself, then for the people who love you.

  • Ugh (Score:2)

    by Dunbal ( 464142 )
    I RTFA and what a load of crap. Only mentions IT in the first paragraph. And we all know correlation != causation. On with the typical /. discussion!

  • Yay for awful conclusions (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Council ( 514577 ) <rmunroe@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @09:26PM (#14460123) Homepage
    The logic distilled:

    When you're stressed, do you smoke or drink? [read: do you smoke or drink? This is an awful question for establishing a link. Possible alternate question: "do you like a massage when you're stressed?"]

    What stresses you? Do crashing computers stress you? ["Yeah." Of course they do.]

    Therefore, computers drive people to drink.

    Nowhere have they established a causal link between the group that is stressed and the group that drinks, aside from what you'd expect from pretty random overlap. This has the smell of a bad study and results blown up to sound outrageous. The article reads like a bunch of observations about overlapping groups concluding with inflammatory statements about two of the groups which are only vaguely linked in the actual data.

    Another analogy: IT problems lead to sex. Well, IT problems lead to stress, stressed people are more likely to get massages, and a nontrivial number of massage parlors offer sex services. IT problems lead to prostitution! Please give us more funding.
    • Nowhere have they established a causal link between the group that is stressed and the group that drinks, aside from what you'd expect from pretty random overlap. This has the smell of a bad study and results blown up to sound outrageous. The article reads like a bunch of observations about overlapping groups

      TFA:

      The poll by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships showed more than a third of men and a quarter of women have a drink to cope with stress. Of the 1,000 people polled, 27% of men and 23% of

    • Sounds like the same kind of logic I've heard all week in Alito's confirmation hearings. Ever thought about running for Senate?
    • I just think it's yet another example of stupidity feeding stupidity. Well, that and everyone loves to gripe about their computers these days (thanks Windows!).

      Seriously, this "study" actually claims that a computer crashing is more stressful for people than bodily injury. Who the hell are they surveying, stunt men? I'd say seeing a BSOD is a ton less stressful than, say, a broken limb.

      Then again, maybe their computers are crashing right in the middle of something more important to these people than their p
  • Les Barker's spoken word poem seems to fit this story:

    I bought a new computer.
    It cost a thousand pound,
    But every time I switch it on
    It keeps on falling down.

    I used to think it was my friend,
    But now it drives me 'round the bend.
    You'd be surprised the time I spend:
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    I switch it on -
    What is this?
    Something wrong with CONFIG SYS
    This isn't my idea of bliss:
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    I want to share my printers and
    I want to share my files.
    I want to share my anger
    'Cause it drives me blooming wild.

    My songs, they say, are sublime;
    I've conquered cadence, mastered rhyme.
    But now-a-days I spend my time:
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    Reinstall - oh what fun!
    It says it helps you get things done.
    Every day now, everyone's
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    Look again. It will say
    All you do is plug and play.
    How do I spend every day?
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    It can't find my printer and
    It can't locate my mouse.
    The other day it drove me
    Right out of the bloomin' house.

    Still unplugged, still unplayed,
    I e-mailed God in search of aid.
    He's far to busy, I'm afraid...
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    Up at dawn for one more try
    Will it work? - Can pigs fly?
    How do I expect to die?
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.

    I used to like a drink or three.
    No time now - don't call for me.
    How will I spend eternity?
    REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
  • I'm a bit surprised as many as one in five feel commuting is a source of stress, actually.

    I find it relaxing. In the morning, it gives me some time where I can't really work, and can't rush around looking for things, or doing last-minute household stuff. Instead I can sit (well, stand) on the train and sort oease into the day by reading a book or a bunch of saved webpages on my computer, or just listen to the radio.

    In the evening, likewise, I can sit and wind down, again with a book or radio. I get some tim

  • See the tips for avoiding stress? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Soko ( 17987 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @10:19PM (#14460391) Homepage
    There's a second box along the side of that page, showing one how to avoid stress. Cool! Let's take a look:

    1. Live a healthy lifestyle

    Well, duh. OK, maybe someone under stress needs the bleeding obvious told to them. Whatever.

    2. Don't take too much on

    Too much what? Stress?

    3. Decide what causes you stress and change it

    OS9 causes my stress. The Accounting Dept. says I can't change it either.

    4. Avoid unnecessary conflict

    So, one should just smile at that luser and say "Yes, you're right - it's a virus I let in through the firewall. Your kids music collection acquired through Kaaza - on our corporate laptop - has _nothing_ to do with all those strange pop-ups. No sir. I'll have it all fixed up in a jiffy."? OK.

    5. Manage your time better

    Good. Hang on, cell phone ringing again...

    6. Practice saying "no" without feeling guilty

    Me: Hullo?
    Them: Hey - the server's down
    Me: *checks with ssh* Odd - it was runnig like a top when I left for home.
    Them: Well, with the construction going on in here, the electricians kinda shut the power to the server room off.
    Me: Ummmm... The server is on UPS. Why's it dead?
    Them: They shut it off a 5. It's now 8. The drill they plugged into the UPS didn't help either. Can you come in and fix it?
    Me: NO. Get them to fix it - it's thier fault! And nothing you say will make me feel guilty enough to come in.
    Them: Suuuure. Get your ass in here or your fired! The CIO golfs at my country club, you know.
    Me: Yeahyeahyeah. Be there ASAP. As soon as I explain to my wife why I'm going to work during her birthday celebration.

    Yup, no stress there....

    7. Take time out to "recharge your batteries"

    Me: Yup, the batteries aren't charging. You guys fried the my UPS batteries with your drill. You've trashed my DB and destroyed a 3000VA UPS. I need to see the foreman now - you guys owe us for all this.
    FatAssSparky: Fuck you.

    8. Talk about problems so they do not get out of proportion

    Me: I'd like to talk to you about your workers killing power to my server room, and...
    Foreman: Sorry 'bout that, buddy. Now, we want we should take 4 days to finish up here, or an extra week with similar 'mishaps', if you wanna start sqwaking about our little boo-boo dis evenin'?
    Me: *WINCE* ...Have a nice evening.

    9. Make time to see friends

    Friend: Soko, if your just going to bitch about your day, I'm leaving. I hate that geeky stuff. Oh, and you pay the tab.

    10. Do not use alcohol, nicotine or caffeine to cope with stress

    Are they FUCKING KIDDING?? WHO ARE THESE MORONS?? I'll FUCKING SHOW THEM STRESS. WITH A SNOWSHOVEL CAVING IN THIER FUCKING SKULL!!!

    AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHH HHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

    Soko
  • 1. Your ops manager drowns on a glass of water.
    2. The three staff PhDs together can't team up to figure out how to submit a web form.
    3. The CEO knocks you out of a revenue project to work on his pet project.
    4. After 6 months of dissing the CEO, his pet project starts making as much money as he predicted. Yes, you were wrong. Yes, the CEO was actually right.
    5. For the 14th day in a row SQL Server Agent decides to magically, and for no reason, saboutage your carefully orchestrated maintenance plan for SQL Ser
    • 9. You just walked a person thru a very simple sequence of actions ("click here, now click here ...") for the 100th time. She has been at that job for about 100 days. Nope, she still doesn't get it.

      Can't you see it? She wants you bad

      :)

  • I would say that the people I support get stressed by their lack of understanding of typical software flow. Want to change a default behavior 90% of the time thats in Tools->Options. Though recent trends are leaning into Edit->Preferences. Hell just mouseover all the things at the top and look for something that says Options or Preferences under it. Just as long as (true story) they dont set both the font and background colors to white and masterfully save this as normal.dot How they figured out this
  • ...Captain Obvious has been named President of the BBC.
  • Computers also give you FPS games to frag your worries away...
  • High Frutose Corn Syrup is very bad for you as it adds as much as 1/3 to your triglicerides --- causing you to gain alot of weight. Its in alot of junk food, soft drinks, etc...

    Remove it from your diet and you will be healthier.

    This computer stress thing... its alot teh same....

    Simply remove Microsoft from your computer diet and your stress level will decrease.

    Its the MS user frustration function. Its pervasive...junk food...

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