Your age determines where you go for tech help

Under 32 – ask mates, 42 plus - read manual, 55 and up – ask the kids

25 May 2007 0:09 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

A survey carried out for online secure payments company PayPal has discovered that who we turn to for help with technology problems varies hugely depending on our age.

While a third of Brits (33%) surveyed rely on good old fashioned trial and error when setting a video, DVD or other tech device, at the age of 42 the satisfaction of conquering a gadget through personal ingenuity declines and the instruction manuals are dragged out and dusted off.

By the age of 55, reading a manual loses its appeal and consumers prefer to turn to relatives for help overcoming technology stumbling blocks.

Up to the age of 32, people are more likely to ask their friends for help with new technologies than ask a relative.

Men (40%) are more stubborn than women when it comes to asking for help (no, really?) with 40% of men and only 26% of women claiming they'd rather persist until they've cracked it.

Even when men have thrown the towel in, they won't ask anyone for help and prefer to work through the manual in search of an answer.

In contrast, women are much more open and almost half (45%) will seek guidance from a relative compared to less than a quarter (23%) of men.

Neil Edwards, a technology expert at PayPal says: "With so many new gadgets hitting the high-street it's impossible for the majority of us to keep up to speed with them all. Although it's nice to think that we can master every new technology challenge, it's almost unfeasible to master it all without any kind of help as the research testifies".

Edwards continues to state: "PayPal recognises that the unknown can be daunting and has therefore launched www.whatisyourtq.com to encourage as much tech learning development as possible".

To test your TQ as well as hints and tips on how to improve it follow the link below...