It's All the (Computer) Rage

It's a new angle on an old passion: computer rage. In a time when most everyone depends on computers for most everything, anger is mounting when things go wrong. We gotta believe McLuhan would really enjoy this type of phenomenon. LINK. Excerpt:

Anger and frustration with computers can even escalate into what one psychologist calls "computer rage."

"Computer rage is becoming a big problem in our world today," University of Maryland Professor Kent Norman says on a section of his Web site devoted to the subject. "Men and women are taking out their frustrations on the computer; and unfortunately, sometimes misdirecting it to other people."

Norman, who directs the Laboratory of Automation Psychology and Decision Processes at the university, conducted an online survey last year in which nearly 20 percent of the respondents admitted they'd dropped a computer on the floor out of anger. They described smashing, microwaving and cursing at their computers. One confessed to urinating on his. Another said he had thrown his laptop in a fryer. At least three claimed to have shot at hardware.