If you feel like your coworkers have been a little icy towards you since you returned from the holiday break with that new tablet in tow, you’re not imagining things. A new study reveals that happily displaying or even using your new gadgetry at work may cause your colleagues to become slavering, green-eyed monsters.
Captivate Network, who specialize in providing customized, actionable information to business professionals, found in their latest Office Pulse study that 30% of employees reported being “very envious” of the devices their colleagues have and they do not. Furthermore, the survey found that 73% of employees considered their smartphones (43%), tablets (15%), e-readers (8%), and HDTVs (7%) as their favorite device.
Another fun fact: the more money you make, the more attached you become to your tablet. Here’s a table breaking down of favorite electronic devices across a few basic demographics:
Adding to the extrapolation of this data is the fact that 80% of adults surveyed desired an iPad above all other tablets which, I dunno if you’ve noticed, also happen to be one of the most expensive tablets currently on the market. Consider this a triumph of Apple’s expensive admission into their cult of personality.
While the affluent are fonder of their tablets than the non-affluent, they are also more desirous of tablets than the non-affluent. Granted, only 12% of those surveyed admitted to coveting tablets, as opposed to 32% desiring a smartphone, but the longing for tablets among the haves was much higher than among the have nots. Again, here’s the breakdown of objects people desire among demographics:
It’s no wonder tablets, and specifically iPads, are preferred among the rich: they’re the ones that can more easily afford them. Yes, I’m inferring this assertion from correlations so I reserve the right to be wrong on this, but still, it raises the question of whether tablets are desired among professionals less for their utility and more for being a status symbol. But don’t demonize the rich over this particular phenomenon because, as the report from Captivate Network explains, “Affluent tablet owners (those making more than $100K per year) are happy to let co-workers play with their device with 42 percent reporting sharing their tablet with five or more of their co-workers as compared to just 15 percent of tablet owners making less $100K annually.”
Reading this report, it’s hard not to walk away thinking that every white-collar office isn’t some muted recreation of Battle Royale. Nobody’s holding hostages and threatening to cut throats, so rest assured, taking your iPad to work won’t invite violence upon your person.
One last take-away from this data: where people like to use their gadgets. I’ll let this one speak for itself:
Yeah.
Anyways, for more adventures in office drama data, check out the infographic that Captivate Network put together using their data:
