Anger Management

Got this via the RISKS Digest:

Nine out of 10 computer users are stressed out by such regular occurrences as performance slowdown, spam overload and lost files, and the time wasted fixing problems just makes it worse, according to security firm Symantec. Anger management experts say computer stress must be alleviated before it affects productivity and human-to-human interactions. “If you are suffering from stress, the best thing to do is to breathe deeply, and remind yourself to keep your cool,” says Mike Fisher, of the British Association of Anger Management. The top five stress triggers, according to Symantec, are: 1) Slow performance and system crashes; 2) Spam, scams and e-mail overload; 3) Pop-up ads; 4) Viruses; and 5) Lost or deleted files. Men tend to freak out over viruses, spam and general information pollution, while crashing systems and sluggish performance really irk women. More than a third of both sexes will resort to extreme behavior during computer-related meltdown, including violence, swearing, showing and desperately hitting random keys. The good news is that 40% will actually try to fix the problem, often asking someone else for help. Symantec’s Kevin Chapman suggests a few ways to reduce the potential for problems: “For example, don’t download lots of large files and applications, and remove the clutter left behind by long periods on the Internet. To avoid spam, don’t sign up for lots of mailing lists, and if you do receive spam-mail, never reply to it asking to be removed from the list as this will confirm your e-mail address.” [BBC News 23 Oct 2003; NewsScan Daily, 23 Oct 2003]

The real reason I’m posting this, though, is just to have an excuse to link to an old MPEG file that demonstrates some of the above principles in action. Guess I’m easily amused.