Another reason for so much wasted time is all the fussing that employees do with hardware, software, and online connections. One study in the early 1990s estimated that microcomputer users wasted 5 billion hours a year waiting for programs to run, checking computer output for accuracy, helping coworkers use their applications, organizing cluttered disk storage, and calling for technical support. And that was before most people had to get involved with making online connection work or experience the frustrations of untangling complications wrought by spam, phishing, viruses, and other internet deviltry. The Stanford study led by Nie, referred to above, found that junk email and computer maintenance take up a significant amount of time spent online each day. Indeed, people surveyed said they spent 14 minutes daily dealing with computer problems, which would add up to a total of 10 days a year. Comments technology writer Dan Gillmor, “We would never buy a TV that forced us to reboot the set once a month, let alone once a week or every other day,”
What kind of natural hazards in my area might be a threat to my computer system?
Some disasters do not merely lead to temporary system downtime; they can wreck the entire system. Examples are natural hazards.
Whatever is harmful to property (and people) is harmful to computers and communications systems. This certainly includes natural disasters: fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, and the like. If they inflict damage over a wide area, as have ice storms in eastern Canada or hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast states, natural hazards can disable all the electronic systems we take for granted. Without power and communications connections, cellphones, automated teller machines, credit card verifiers, and bank computers are useless.
