Have gadgets become too complicated? Over 8 in 10 of us think so, apparently
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A huge 84% of the population believe that gadgets have become too complicated
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One in ten Brits use just 10% of tech on their gadgets
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Less than a quarter are able to use all of their cars’ functionality
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More than a third of UK adults only use half of the available technology on their smartphone
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Almost 60% of us just leave our technology on the same one or two modes
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Survey of 2,000 adults conducted by Dacia
Brits are spending billions of pounds a year on technology with functions and features that they never use. That’s the key finding of a poll of 2,000 UK adults, conducted by car brand Dacia.
It also found that more than a third named smartphones as the gadget with the most unused functions, on average using less than half of the settings available. What’s more, the UK adult admits to using less than 60 per cent of the available settings on their gadgets regularly and almost one in ten use less than 10 per cent.
With 84% of the population believing that gadgets have simply become too complicated, it is no surprise that nearly 60% just leave tech on the same one or two modes rather than experimenting with all the different options available.
This complexity also means that one in five Brits owns three or more kitchen gadgets that they simply never use, six in ten have no idea how to fully operate their washing machine and 15 per cent of confused shoppers have returned a piece of technology because it was too difficult to use.
Nearly a third of respondents have bought a piece of exciting tech, like a drone or VR headset, which has been sitting in storage after the first couple of uses. Of these, 55 per cent believe they’re missing out on good experiences by not knowing how all their tech really works.
Half of Brits say they just don’t have time to learn how everything works properly and a quarter think that as long as it does all they need it for, they’re happy.
Says Louise O’Sullivan, Head of Dacia UK:
“The influx of gadgets and technology into our lives was supposed to make living easier but our survey showed that millions of people aren’t even using half of the functions their tech offers, which makes you question how much benefit the user is getting.”
“When it comes to their cars, Brits only use two thirds of the settings available and the same amount said they don’t understand all the symbols on their dashboard, with a tenth admitting they hardly know what any mean.”
