Net effect of computer rage

It starts with slight annoyance, then the hairs on your neck start to prickle and your hands begin to sweat.

Soon you are banging your computer or yelling at the screen, and you might well end up belting the person sitting next to you.

You are suffering Net rage, the new scourge of Britain's 31 million surfers. Two new surveys reveal that up to 18 million of us suffer extreme mental and physical anguish thanks to the slow or nonexistent performance of the Irritation Superhighway.

Symptoms include the urge to set fire to your computer, hit it or throw it out of the window.

Internet service provider Telewest Broadband, which surveyed 1,000 users, claims men are five times more likely to attack a computer than women, while female surfers are twice as likely to yell at theirs.

Most users rate Net rage a higher priority than sex worries (86 per cent), and rate it twice as frustrating as public transport.

A Mori survey for Abbey National found that seven per cent of people admit to lashing out at keyboard or mouse and four per cent to thumping their desk, with some two per cent claiming to have actually hit the person next to them in their frustration.

Top internet irritations are sites that take ages to load, unhelpful Help buttons and intrusive requests for personal details.

"It's not surprising we feel frustrations with the Net more than anything else," said Helen Petrie, professor of human computer interaction at London's City University. "You have no comeback with a machine, no one to talk to, even to shout at.

"There are two phases to Net rage - it starts in the mind then becomes physical, with shaking, eyes dilating, sweating, and increased heart rate. You are preparing to have a fight, with no one to fight against. That can have harmful longer-term effects."