Study reveals the Top 10 tech stresses that frustrate Americans

SWNS
4 min readMay 29, 2019
Research conducted by global tech care company Asurion in conjunction with OnePoll, examined Americans’ common tech stresses. (Photo by freestocks.org via Pexels)

Slow Wi-Fi, login troubles or plagued by a dying battery? A majority of Americans endure five tech frustrations EVERY day, according to new research.

A recent poll examining 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 five tech frustrations a day and nearly one in three (30%) get frustrated with their personal tech more than five 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.

The study, conducted by global tech care company Asurion 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.

“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.

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.”

TOP 10 TECH FRUSTRATIONS

  1. Wi-Fi issues 80%
  2. Inability to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot 74%
  3. Connection but no internet 71%
  4. Slow downloads or buffering 70%
  5. Login/signup problems 70%
  6. Battery dying when you need it most 69%
  7. Computer, app or program crashes 68%
  8. Forgetting password 68%
  9. Viruses/security issues 67%
  10. Low battery; charging issues 67%

TOP 5 MOST FRUSTRATING TECH DEVICES

  1. Smartphone 75%
  2. Laptop 61%
  3. Internet router 61%
  4. Tablet 56%
  5. Streaming devices 51%

DAILY TECH FRUSTRATIONS

  • 53% say they have 1–5 tech frustrations each day
  • Nearly 12% say they have 6–10 tech frustrations daily
  • Nearly 9% say they have 11–15 daily tech frustrations
  • 6% say they have 16–20 tech frustrations each day
  • Nearly 2% have 21–30 tech frustrations daily
  • 1% have 31–40 daily tech frustrations

>> Download the video & infographic for this research story <<

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