PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPUTER USE: XXIX. MEASURING COMPUTER USERS' STRESS: THE COMPUTER HASSLES SCALE

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 923-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD A. HUDIBURG ◽  
SARA R. BROWN ◽  
T. MORRIS JONES
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Myron Orleans

The research literature regarding fears associated with online activities of adolescents was reviewed and assessed in relation to earlier research reported by the author. The original qualitative study focused on the interactions between the social networks of young adolescents and their computer usage. Particular attention was devoted to determining whether heavy computer use tended to isolate adolescent users. The findings challenged the common attributions of prevalent danger, that heavy youthful computer users would experience social isolation. That earlier research led to further questioning of the potential harm of computer use in relation to contagion effects and alarms raised regarding sexual solicitation via the Internet. Recent literature was examined to assess whether danger warnings have been magnified, distorted, or manipulated for ideological purposes. Contrary to popular considerations, the interpersonal lives and computer activities of early adolescents reciprocally reinforced patterns of behavior that lowered the likelihood of risk behaviors to a significantly greater degree than did direct parental involvement. Recommendations to responsible adults were offered to re-focus energies and efforts in directions that would support appropriate computer use and promote pro-social behaviors of online adolescents.


Author(s):  
Kanwalpreet Kaur ◽  
Pooja Das ◽  
P. Lenka ◽  
Shahhawaz Anwer

Objectives: Aberrant activity of the trapezius muscle and associated postural abnormalities have been identified as potential factors for neck pain in computer users, thus postural correction is often advocated. The purpose of this trial was to examine the effect of specific scapular postural correction exercises on middle and lower trapezius activity. Methods: Sixty participants matched for the duration of daily computer use were included in the study. Twenty had no neck pain and exhibited “good” scapular posture (constituting Control group C), while forty reported pain (Neck Disability Index ≥ 15/100) for ≥ 3 months over 12 month period. The latter were randomly allocated to one of the two groups (A and B). Electromyographic recordings were taken from the middle and lower trapezius at rest and during typing. After 20-minutes of typing participants in group A (n=20) practiced scapular postural correction exercises while participants in group B (n=20) relaxed. Electromyographic recordings were repeated in a second typing task. Results: Following correction of the scapular posture in group A, middle trapezius activity became similar to the control group (P = 0.229) with no effect on lower trapezius activity (P < 0.001). Significant normalization did not occur after relaxation exercises (P = 0.004). Conclusion: Intermittent scapular postural correction exercises were effective in altering the middle and lower trapezius activity during computer use and may be advised for prevention of neck pain.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Grimmelmann

The federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) makes it a crime to “access[] a computer without authorization or exceed[] authorized access.” Courts and commentators have struggled to explain what types of conduct by a computer user are “without authorization.” But this approach is backwards; authorization is not so much a question of what a computer user does, as it is a question of what a computer owner allows.In other words, authorization under the CFAA is an issue of consent, not conduct; to understand authorization, we need to understand consent. Building on Peter Westen’s taxonomy of consent, I argue that we should distinguish between the factual question of what uses a computer owner manifests her consent to and the legal question of what uses courts will deem her to have consented to. Doing so allows us to distinguish the different kinds of questions presented by different kinds of CFAA cases, and to give clearer and more precise answers to all of them. Some cases require careful fact-finding about what reasonable computer users in the defendant’s position would have known about the owner’s expressed intentions; other cases require frank pol-icy judgments about which kinds of unwanted uses should be considered serious enough to trigger the CFAA.Published: 84 George Washington Law Review 1500 (2016)


Author(s):  
Ganiyu Oluwaleke Shokunbi ◽  
Gabriel George

Background: The use of computers has increased among adolescents, as have musculoskeletal symptoms. There is evidence that these symptoms can be reduced through ergonomic approaches via educationObjectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of self-instructional information on knowledge regarding office ergonomics among computer users. Methods: 170 computer users among the staffs of selected higher educational institutions in Nigeria participated in this study. The occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workstation checklist was used to assess the level of knowledge of office ergonomics. The work Safely with Visual Display Terminal (WSVDT) booklet was used to provide instructional information on office ergonomics. Both the OSHA checklist and WSVDT booklet were administered and collected by hand. Paired t-test and Kendall’s correlation coefficients were used for data analysis. Statistical significance was set at an alpha level of 0.05Results: The pre-information and post-information knowledge scores of office ergonomic were 22.78±6.61 and 31.05±2.82 respectively.  Paired t test showed a significant difference in the pre information and post -information knowledge scores of the participants (t = 20.495, P value = 0.000). Kendall’s correlation coefficient value (r) of the association between changes in the level of knowledge of office computer ergonomic and age, level of education of computer users, levels of computer use; i.e., daily computer use, weekly computer use and total period of computer use,  were -0.28, 0.34, 0.59, 0.24 and 0.07, respectively. Age did not show a statistically significant correlation with changes in the knowledge of office ergonomic (P > 0.05) whereas the level of educational qualifications and all levels of duration of computer use did show significant correlation (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Findings from this study showed that instructional information on computer office ergonomics increased the level of knowledge of office ergonomics among computer users in selected institutions of learning in Nigeria. It also showed that the level of education and duration of computer use increased with an increase in the changes in the level of knowledge of computer office ergonomics among computer users.


1995 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 779-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Hudiburg

Data from 1199 student users formed the normative database for the Computer Hassles Scale, a 37-item scale measuring computer users' stress. The Computer Hassles Scale was scored to yield a severity of hassles score for the total scale and two subscales, Computer Runtime Errors and Computer Information Problems. The total scale and both subscales showed high internal consistency as measured by the Cronbach coefficient alpha. Guidelines for identifying high and low severity of computer users' stress were suggested.


Author(s):  
Irene Katsamanis ◽  
Nicholas K. Lim ◽  
Carmen Roca ◽  
Maria Karavidas

1993 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-178
Author(s):  
Burton A. Weiss ◽  
Dean Kimmel ◽  
Jonathan Stein

30 computer users were tested first after work and then second both before and after periods of computer use. Subjects' depth perception ability was unaffected.


Author(s):  
Deborah J. Smith

<p class="MsoBodyTextIndent2" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in; margin: 0in 0.6in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>How do senior citizens view computers? What can help or hinder their use of today&rsquo;s digital technologies? </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">&ldquo;The Cybernun Study: Religious Sisters, Life Satisfaction and Computer Use&rdquo; examined computer use and life satisfaction of senior religious sisters; also addressing computer usability concerns of senior citizens. A sample was obtained of 103 nuns in Upstate New York.; self-identified as computer users (CU) or non-users (NU). Nuns completed demographic information, two structured surveys and responded to additional semi-structured questions in selected interviews. Analysis of the open-ended responses found interesting differences in sister&rsquo;s perceptions of computer use. </span></span></span></p>


1994 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 1183-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Hudiburg ◽  
Pamela K. Ahrens ◽  
T. Morris Jones

The relation of computer users' stress, measured by the Computer Hassles Scale, and global stress, measured by the Daily Hassles Scale, with stress reactions, measured by the somatization-anxiety items of the SCL-90, was investigated in a college sample ( N = 101). Computer hassles ratings were correlated .54 with daily hassles ratings and .57 with somatization-anxiety ratings. Daily hassles ratings were correlated .74 with somatization-anxiety ratings. These results provide important evidence on convergent validity for the Computer Hassles Scale as a measure of computer users' stress.


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