RTFM Possibly Gendered
Ars Technica summarizes a Gadget Helpline study which suggests a possible (and large) gender difference in how men and women think about tech product manuals. And the apparent differences seem to confirm stereotypes:
Gadget Helpline analyzed 75,000 calls received between September and October of 2009 and discovered that it’s not just geeks that aren’t reading the manual. A full 64 percent of men and 24 percent of women calling into the line had not checked out the booklet that came with their computers or gadgets before picking up the phone. If the numbers are that dire (especially for the men), we can’t help but wonder how many more kept quiet about their inability to RTFM.
There could be confounding factors–there any controls for any other demographic info as far as I can tell, so it’s maybe the issue involves which gender is more likely to call tech support, or purchase/configure technology, etc. Still, the study could be the start of many classroom discussions about technology, gender, and culture, if nothing else.
[via Ars Technica]
