some obsessions are harmful, others are harmless. stephen banham is obsessed type.


based on a recent survey by scotland's main economic development agency, scottish enterprise , it is claimed that scots alone are now waiting for 36 million hours each year just for emails and webpages to download, because of slow and unreliable internet connections in the workplace (36 million hours in total that is - not per person, although many remain convinced to the contrary). this problem is exacerbated by the fact that it causes patience and productivity levels in the workplace to sink and tempers to rise.

of those surveyed, 45 per cent named a sluggish internet connection as their number one pet hate in everyday life. in contrast, only 26 per cent said being stuck in a queue was their pet hate. another 16 per cent named watching their favourite football team lose and a further 16 per cent cited noisy neighbours.

when it comes to honing those online waiting skills, 33 per cent of those surveyed said they often had to walk away from their sluggish pc just so they could cool down. one in 10 said they often felt like punching the keyboard, taking a hammer to the monitor or even throwing their pc out of the window and 3 per cent said they want to scream out loud.