Girls geeking it up?

If you ever end up at a tech or games conference, there’s one thing that you’ll notice fairly quickly – the male to female ratio being heavily skewed towards the men. But, according to new research out today from a UK supermarket this could be about to change, with the findings suggesting that girls may now be better at some computing tasks than boys.

The survey of over a thousand 7-16 year olds revealed that girls were more likely to know how to set up a word document, put a profile on a social network or upload a video onto YouTube. In addition, the survey also revealed that 10 per cent of the boys said they weren’t confident with computers compared to just 6 per cent of the girls.

MyTake – As a very strict History Master of mine used to say – Inconclusive. I don’t really think a survey of this nature can predict the number of girls that will end up in IT. As we are required to become more and more hands-on with technology, it’s only natural that our level of awareness increases. The other interesting thing here is the findings that girls are more likely to know how to set-up a profile on a social network or upload a video onto YouTube - So, in essence, they are more likely to engage in socialising using the web, which in my book is simply an extension of their offline behavior. I think a lot of this comes down to preference not ability.

...and I am an addict

Yet more research, yet more claims… This time it’s about us being addicted to technology. We’ve probably all heard the term “Crakberry” before, so in that sense we are aware of how addictive certain gadgets can be. I myself can attest to getting sucked in to massive PES or Football Manager sessions and hours just fly by – but hey, I’m having a good time! This new research says that “techno addiction” can get so bad that some people get up several times a night to check their e-mails and text messages.

Not surprisingly, this level of so called addiction can start to interfere with all parts of your life. Professor Nada Kakabadse of Northampton University, who ran the research, reckons the addiction comes from technology becoming more interesting over the past decade and that it has become more portable and accessible. According to her research, up to a third off those surveyed were addicted to some form of technology, the down side of this is that addicts can be withdrawn from their families, suffer axieties and even sickness – and what’s worse is that by the time it’s identified, it’s usually too late! OMG…..

MyTake – Ever heard people talk about an “addictive” personality? I have, and I think it’s true. It’s not the gadget, the sport, the beer, the cigarette – it’s the person. Technology is an enabler, it’s there to make life easier, more interesting and more fun. When you lose sight of this, I think it could become very easy to get addicted. The old saying, “everything in moderation” ;-)