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Still in the box: £1.25bn worth of gadgets

If your technophobia is so acute that the last gadget you were given never made it out of its box then fear not - you're not alone.

Research by Scooter Computer found that Britons are wasting £1.25billion a year by buying unwanted devices for their friends and family.

Apple’s iPod tops the list of the five most unopened gadgets, followed by digital cameras, computer software, sat navs and mobile phones, says the study obtained by The Daily Mail.

Based on a poll of 500 adults, the research reportedly shows that Britons aged 35 to 44 are the likeliest to have a device that they were bought as a gift collecting dust.

Respondents in the age category admitted they were yet to break the seal on their gadget because they were either too scared or too busy.

Even pensioners emerged as being more daring with their new device, the study found, because they have more time to figure them out.

Overall, about 22% of adults said they had been given a hi-tech gift which remained in the cellophane because they were too daunted by their complexity.

Scooter Computer, which fixes PCs, iPods and cameras, says they are often called out to help someone who knows that their relative will ask them to use their new device over Sunday lunch.

A fear of change and hefty-looking instruction manuals were cited as the main reasons consumers fail to get to grips with how their gift works.

May 4, 2007
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