Computer Tech: Benefits and Frustrations - Essay Sample

Introduction

Computers generate a significant impact on people’s lives, providing a lot of benefits to their users. Still, despite the effect, all users of these devices have not been able to overcome frustrations. Since computer technology was discovered, a lot of people have become jobless because they cannot catch up with the technological advancements. Users often struggle to understand error messages, and the amount of time spent by users to get rid of spam and viruses is becoming a significant struggle of modern technologies. Computer software developers must understand and conduct research that is necessary for taking steps towards the elimination of conflicts that cause users to become frustrated when using computers. Developers have to gain knowledge about the things that frustrate computer users. We can identify the first reason that every user is still irritated with new applications is errors. Users always find errors to be very frustrating. When users realize that a program is not performing at its correct state, even though it is the user's fault, a flaw in the design of the software or the implementation of a bug, users will be frustrated even if they are causing the system to malfunction. Also, spam emails, pop-up ads, and viruses are considered to be errors because they allow users to perceive a problem that prevents a computing system from producing the preferred results, and users cannot attain their performance objectives.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Furthermore, time delays are a second reason for frustration for users. Most users prefer their response time to be short. Their experiences gear this attitude in history through interacting with computers. Beginner users, unlike expert users, are prone to wait longer for the networks to respond. Time delays result from several components and actors, and it is not predictable. A common effect from computer delays is that they reduce the taste users have on the content of the websites they were viewing. Emotional reactions can be defined as mood instabilities and physical uneasiness, which increases with the time that users spent when carrying out data entry during the day. Complex systems and poorly crafted interfaces contribute to negative emotional responses that can lead to confusion, frustration, and failure (Shneiderman et al., 2004).

Ways of Minimizing Frustrations With Respect to the Reasons Outlined

One would suggest lowering frustrations that are related to errors that developers will create software that provides more explicit instructions to users. Developers need to design software that users will have a sense of being in control of a situation or activity. Users must be able to correct errors, which will confirm that the performed actions will change the results in the way you desire. In the design of computers, consistency of information flow is a crucial factor; thus, computers that suffice it are preferable. Moreover, indications or notifications can be provided to users showing them the time left for them to complete a task. Some applications, such as modern web browsers, are doing their best to give information on response time. Even though it is not always to eliminate the factors that cause time delays, it is beneficial to take the necessary measures to prevent time delays when users perform tasks in the computing system (Daniel, 2012). At last, emotional reactions can be reduced by designing highly dependable software, appealing user interfaces, and the improvement in training (Shneiderman et al., 2004).

Causes of User Frustration – Natural Failure From Adoption of New Software or Ambiguous System Design

Human-computer interfaces can cause frustrations to users when they are poorly designed. This situation may deteriorate users’ productivity, mood, and interactions with co-workers. One method that can be used to determine frustration produced by natural frustration or poor system design is to ask users to record their frustrations about HCI. However, it is possible interacting with computers for their individual use as opposed to when they are using a computer to perform assigned tasks. The second method is to examine user frustrations in the workplace. Typically, both professionals and students face frustrations as users, and this kind of examination will assist in distinguishing the level of frustration it is. Every level of users faces designated levels of frustration, cutting across young, experienced, and physically impaired users. Research has concluded that young, older, and physically impaired users react differently in the event of errors, response time, and other factors that cause users to become frustrated. Since universal usability in the human-computer interface has been a great and modern goal for all developers in the creation of successful software interfaces, research must be conducted on all types of users. It is the understanding, prevention, and the provision of measures that will accommodate different populations of users (Irina et al., 2003).

Methods of minimizing user frustration on physically impaired persons and best ways to serve them.Around ten percent of the world’s inhabitants, which can be assessed by about 650 million individuals, are faced with some disabilities. A disability can be cognitive impairment, sensory, or physical that will negatively affect the capacity of a person to perform his or her daily activities. The digital era forced developers to make more progress in advancing technology that has significantly improved the living standard for the disabled community. Frustration can be reduced by improving accessibility for disabled people by developing assistive technology that is intended to promote a disabled person's useful abilities. The next suggestion for reducing frustration among disabled people is the integration of adaptive technology, which allows disabled people to benefit from technology that they couldn’t use in the past. To better serve the disabled community, accessible technology must be developed for offering technology that provides broad applications and by removing barriers that have prevented disabled people from accessing the world. Accessibility should be implemented in the design process of HCI, and developers must keep integrating accessibility, assistive, and adaptivity technology when designing products related to technology (Robert, Atkinson, & Daniel, n.d).

As you can see, users can have a bad experience when facing errors, time delays, and incompleteness in the usage of computers. Poorly designed interfaces are often associated with the types of events that cause users to become frustrated. Developers should take measures for reducing frustrations among users by designing more reliable software, better user interfaces, and to improve training. Developers must integrate technology, which will provide accessibility to users with disabilities and meet universal usability in designing their products.

Conclusion

In conclusion, interaction devices provide users with a platform where they receive navigation instructions, localization, position, and interact with information. Apart from computers, other accessories include tablets and smartphones. Human-Computer Interaction is, therefore, something that the user has to take with herself or himself. The architecture and design of these devices are dependent on the user's taste and preferences. Otherwise, their application will be underemployed. The position and layout of features on the screen, for example, will determine the ease of identification and accessibility by the user. Devices that are easy to use are considered to be user friendly. Color selection and alignment are other vital features that should follow the design of these devices because different users have different tastes for colors and user interfaces. Therefore, all these factors of the model of interaction devices help designers to attain affordance and necessity of the devices, which, if fulfilled, reduce frustrations to the prospective device users.

References

Quinn, P., & Cockburn, A. (2016, May). When bad feels good: Assistance failures and interface preferences. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 4005-4010).

Irina, C., Jonathan, L., Katie, B., John, R., Ben, S. (2004). Determining Causes and Severity of End-User Frustration. International Journal of Human-computer Interaction. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7eff/871ce258420be2cdcaadf2f2aecf5df4330a.pdf.

Daniel, H. (2012). Design: The Art of Reducing Frustration. Flying machine Studios http://www.flyingmachinestudios.com/design/anatomy-of-frustration/.

Irina, C., Jonathan, L., Katie, B., John, R., Ben, S. (2003). Determining Causes and Severity of End-User Frustration. Conclusion and Future Work. http://hcil2.cs.umd.edu/trs/2002-11/2002-11.html.

Robert, D., Atkinson, & Daniel D. Castro. (n.d). Accessibility for People with Disabilities. Digital Quality of Life. http://www.itif.org/files/DQOL-7.pdf.