世論 What Japan Thinks

This fun survey from goo Research, and reported on by japan.internet.com, into taking electronic equipment along to the beach indicates that the majority of people who take their laptop computers to the seaside end up dropping them in the ocean!

Demographics

Between the 8th and 13th of July 2009 1,077 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.1% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.1% in their twenties, 21.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.9% in their fifties, and 11.8% aged sixty or older.

I wonder if the high rate of butterfingered notebook computer owners suggests that those daft enough to take a computer to the beach are also daft enough not to look after it properly! Sand under the keyboard would be enough of a reason for me not to bother, let alone the risk of a briny dunk.

Have any of my readers had electronics destroyed by seawater?

Photo from gamp on flickr.

Research results

First, from the sample 882 people, or 81.9%, wanted to take electronic equipment to the seaside. They were asked the following question.

Q1: Which of the following devices have you actually taken to the seaside? (Sample size=882, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Mobile phone	443	50.2%
Digital camera	382	43.3%
Video camera	123	13.9%
Portable music player	69	7.8%
Radio	41	4.6%
Torch	41	4.6%
Radio-cassette, CD player	38	4.3%
Portable game machine	14	1.6%
Notebook computer	10	1.1%
Portable DVD player	6	0.7%
Portable television	5	0.6%
Smartphone	3	0.3%
PDA	2	0.2%
Other	1	0.1%
Nothing in particular	270	30.6%

Q2: Which of the following devices have you dropped in the sea? (Sample size=882, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Mobile phone (to SQ)	33	3.7%
Digital camera	17	1.9%
Notebook computer	6	0.7%
Video camera	6	0.7%
Torch	4	0.4%
Radio	3	0.3%
Portable music player	1	0.1%
Radio-cassette, CD player	0	0.0%
Portable game machine	0	0.0%
Portable DVD player	0	0.0%
Portable television	0	0.0%
Smartphone	0	0.0%
PDA	0	0.0%
Other	1	0.1%
None of them	826	93.7%

Q2SQ: What did you do after you dropped your mobile phone in the sea? (Sample size=33)

Took the battery out and left it to dry	33.3%
Soon switched it on	24.2%
Was waterproof, so just left it wet	15.2%
Took the battery out, rinsed it in fresh water and left it to dry	9.1%
Left it to dry as is	6.1%
Dismantled it and left it to dry	0.0%
Dismantled it, rinsed it in fresh water and left it to dry	0.0%
Other	0.0%
Didn’t do anything	3.0%
Couldn’t find it	9.1%