Slow-loading web pages, apps, and files lead to the most frustration – and lost productivity

Boise, ID, and Glasgow, UK – Brits’ patience with technology lasts 60 seconds on average before we lose our temper, according to new research from Crucial, the memory and storage experts.

Crucial surveyed 2,000 Brits and revealed that slow technology frustrates Brits on a regular basis, with one in five (21%) having a temper tantrum once a week, a further fifth (19%) throwing tantrums every couple of days, and 7% kicking off over slow technology every few hours. And when slow technology does strike, it takes us 60 seconds on average before we lose our temper. However, some Brits lose their patience even quicker, with 32% saying they lose patience with slow technology after just 30 seconds.

Belfast, Sheffield and London emerged as the most impatient cities, whose patience with slow technology lasted an average of 54 seconds, while Aberdeen, Southampton and York were revealed as the most patient, willing to wait at least 70 seconds.

Among the cited causes of tech temper tantrums, slow internet (50%), frozen computers (47%) and slow computers (40%) come out top on the frustration list.

The data highlights the struggle Brits have with slow computers, something that can sap efficiency and be very time consuming. While there is no one single reason cited for a PC freezing, almost half (46%) of respondents said that opening web pages caused their PC to freeze. Other causes include opening programmes/apps (27%), opening files (21%), loading videos (17%) and when saving down an important file (12%).

In addition to getting frustrated with slow technology, Crucial also found that Brits lose valuable time while waiting for their PC to unfreeze, with a third (32%) deciding to take a toilet break and a further 29% taking the opportunity to make a hot drink. Over one in five Brits (21%) don't utilise the time at all, instead spacing out and staring at nothing.

Once their PC has recovered, 12% of Brits forget what they were doing, 40% postponed what they were doing until later and 32% chose to work on something else.

Jonathan Weech, Crucial SSD Sr. Product Line Manager, commented “The time spent waiting on a slow computer is frustrating and it eventually adds up. Considering that the average Brit not only loses valuable time waiting for their PC to start functioning again, but also ends up being distracted and not returning to their tasks points to a critical efficiency issue when it comes to finishing jobs.”

He continues, “Time spent waiting for your PC to unfreeze is one thing, but if we add up the time spent doing other tasks in the meantime, this is a huge slowdown of productivity. It’s easy to diagnose the problem, for example, if you have lots of heat and noise coming from your computer and it takes a long time to start or load apps, you’ve usually got a storage related problem with your hard drive. However, if your PC frequently suffers from the dreaded spinning hourglass of death or struggles to run more than one application at a time, then your PC most likely has a memory deficiency.”

Jeremy Mortenson, Crucial DRAM Sr. Product Marketing Manager, added, “Anyone who owns a computer has at some point had to deal with it slowing down. It’s a familiar problem, but how do you solve it? A simple DRAM or SSD upgrade is the best option to relieve a great deal of your daily tech frustrations and get your PC back up to speed. This, together with additional strategies such as a PC spring clean can help, which involves getting rid of unwanted programmes, uninstalling pre-installed unused apps, clearing your browser cache and limiting the amount of applications that run when turning your PC on will have your PC functioning as good as new.”