£1.25bn wasted on gadgets – due to fear and ignorance
Gadgets make our lives easier and indeed better. if you know how to use them. But according to a new survey, £1.25bn of gadgets are left unused every year.
Why? Because we’re apparently too daunted or too busy to get them out of the box and working. The survey of 500 adults by home computer maintenance company Scooter Computer, found that 22 per cent of people had been given a technological gift in the last year which they had not got up and running. The average price of that unused gadget was £120 – which adds up to the £1.25bn if you look at that across the country.
35 to 44 year olds are the worst for leaving gadget presents unused. Pensioners given an iPod or digital camera by their grandchildren appear to have more time and energy to figure out how it works.
According to Will Foot, founder of Scooter Computer, the company behind the survey (and indeed a company that will come out and sort it out for you): “At least with a pair of socks you can still use them even if you are not thrilled with them as a present. With technology you are asking a lot of people. Many just do not have the time to get to grips with how their gift works and others are scared of change and prefer their portable radio to a new iPod. Instruction books are daunting and often we are called out to get a gadget present up and running because their relative is coming round to Sunday lunch and they know they will be asked to demonstrate how their iPod or Sat Nav is working.”
Unused gadget top five
1) iPods
2)digital cameras
3)software
4)sat navs
5)mobile phones
Scooter Computer website
