It’s official, slow PCs make us sad, science says so

According to research conducted by Akamai Technologies, 73% of users are unhappy when watching streaming TV series. The fault? Slowdowns

You know when you try to open an application but the computer doesn't respond? Most people react to this blockage with anger and frustration. And now it's science, through research, to prove that the PC with continuous loading and bugs makes users unhappy.

We are talking about the so-called "Hourglass Syndrome". According to researchers, long loading and delays on commonly used technological objects make people nervous, impatient and above all sad. The name comes from the classic symbol of loading on computers, the icon with the hourglass that rotates. From a technical point of view, this icon signals that the computer is storing activities. Basically, it is receiving more data than it can show immediately. From a practical point of view, the user has only to wait. Suspended in a cyber-time where seconds pass much slower than reality.

The numbers of the study

According to the research carried out by Akamai Technologies, which studied human reactions to video quality in desktop and laptop computers, 73% of people who use streaming services are accustomed to continuous slowdowns and sudden blocks. Due to these issues, users surveyed by Akamai have experienced a 14% drop in happiness. Eight percent of them also experienced negative feelings such as sadness and frustration, while three percent experienced such a sharp drop in their attention span that they didn't resume watching the video after it crashed.

How to improve the experience

To prevent your computer from experiencing constant slowdowns and freezes, you can use programs designed to speed up your PC during streaming and gaming. Software like Avira System Speedup. This is a tool for optimizing and cleaning up your device. To make your computer faster, you just have to click on the program's icon and it will perform a quick cleanup to let you watch your favorite TV series without too many interruptions. During the first scan, Speedup examines the computer thanks to a series of algorithms and assigns a score to three different categories: hard disk, performance and privacy. Once this analysis is finished, you won't need much specific knowledge because the program itself will suggest what to delete and you'll just have to give the green light to optimize it with a simple mouse click.