A new survey has revealed yet another potential hazard for Internet users, "Web rage" - the result of the difficulties encountered in searching the dizzying amount of information available on the Internet.
While the phenomenon of PC rage emerged earlier this year with reports of aggravated users destroying their computers, a new survey by a US proprietary research company attributes the emergence of "Web rage" to the dizzying amount of information available on the Internet.
The US-based survey was conducted across a random cross-section of more than 500 adults who access the Internet both at home and at work.
It found 71% of the sample get frustrated when searching the Internet for information. The results also indicated that advances in search engine technology sometimes acted as a contributing factor to stress, rather than alleviating it.
One respondent admitted she evades online searches in favour of calling an actual person for the required information.
The survey also found 36% of Internet users spend more than two hours per week searching the Web for accurate information, and on average, it takes about 12 minutes before a user gets frustrated when searching the Internet.
Meanwhile, statistics from local search engine Aardvark found South African users use the Internet mainly for e-mail and research, rather than for entertainment, as is often perceived.
"Aardvark`s search report for November shows 'jobs` and 'chat` at the top of the 10 most searched for words internationally, while travel, jobs, business and health are the most searched categories," notes Chris van Zyl, marketing manager at Internet service provider Intekom, Aardvark`s holding company.
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