Gender Gap in Cyberspace

Tannen, Deborah. "Gender Gap in Cyberspace", Newsweek, 16 May 1994, pgs 52-53.
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/popular.htm 6 Apr 2007

Deborah Tannen describes herself as a pioneer in the use of personal computers. She certainly is just that. In 1980 most people had little contact with computers and fewer saw any reason to invest in a personal computer for their home. This was the time when Deborah and her friend, Ralph took the plunge. As the story progresses, Ralph became more involved in and acquired understanding of the technology while Ms. Tannen admittedly became more involved in computer use, not mastery. We learn her interest in computers grew when she discovered and, in her own words, got hooked on email. She writes about two quite basic differences she sees in computer use between men and women. First, women seldom take an interest in the nuts and bolts of computers. Ralph described how men struggle to get the upper hand, they want to show this machine who's boss. She feels women typically just want the computer to work for them, they don't want to be challenged by it. She found email an especially enjoyable way to connect with others but here too she found basic differences evident to her between men and women. She pointed out the dark side of derogatory and unwarranted sexual comments that the anonymity of email brings out in some men. On the brighter side, she found men more likely to respond to technical questions with lengthy but helpful information. She reminisced that although she was a pioneer, one of the earliest users of personal computers, she was happy if it worked she didn't need to understand why (or how) it worked.
I believe I would catagorize mysely with Ms. Tannen on this issue. I'm always amazed when I discover something new I can do aith a computer, especially when it makes my work easier. But I really have no interest fixing things when they go wrong with the computer. I leave this to the experts and in my house they are all men.