Women win tech help battle of the sexes

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Technology is a man's game, right? Actually, no – at least not according to a new survey.

UK tech support service Gadget Helpline surveyed 75,000 callers to gain a better insight on how the sexes go about dealing with tech problems differently, and the results don't make pleasant reading – or at least, not for men.

The research, conducted over September and October, found that women are far more likely to approach problems logically, are less likely to have made a basic error and are more patient – and easier to deal with – when they do ask for help.

The most damning statistic to emerge is that 64 per cent of male callers confessed to not having read the manual before ringing for help, compared with just 24 per cent of women.

And for an embarrassing 12 per cent of men (versus just seven per cent of women), the 'problem' was simply that the appliance in question wasn't plugged in or switched on.

Perhaps that would explain why the average call length for women was 32 per cent longer than for men. But for helpline staff, short doesn't seem to be sweet, with 66 per cent of helpline staff preferring speaking to women callers.

Speaking to the BBC, Gadget Helpline founder and chief executive Crispin Thomas revealed that Monday mornings and Boxing Day were the busiest times for the helpline, with syncing problems unsurprisingly the chief source of frustration for both sexes.

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