The Problem

The tremendous influence and growth of computer technology creates pressures on everyone affected by its proliferation to interact with computers and become proficient in their use. "The computer is causing a change in society that is comparable to the change occasioned by the industrial revolution" (Okebukola, 1992, p. 221). This transformation has prompted a concern among researchers about the appearance of computer anxiety in education, in business, in the home and in society in general.

The concern regarding computer anxiety is felt in the educational setting among students and teachers alike. The issue of teachers' computer anxiety, attitude, and confidence may have far reaching effects when it comes to decisions as to how technology is integrated into the classroom. Teachers, fearing a threat to their jobs or qualifications feel the pressure and necessity of re-educating themselves. Students also feel the pressure of learning the new technology in order to complete class or graduation requirements. This can easily lead to anxiety for teachers and students alike when added to the other pressures of the school setting. Teachers influence their students, transmitting their anxieties or attitudes relating to computer technology. The long-term effects that technophobic teachers have on current and future students is discussed in the Rosen and Weil study: ". . . although teachers have increased computer availability in their classrooms, they are not integrating computers into the standard curricula . . . many teachers are technophobic, particularly elementary teachers and secondary humanities teachers" (Rosen, 1994, p. 9). Although most schools have computers, if they are not being used because of some anxiety on the part of teachers, then it becomes a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

In the business office, interacting with a computer can appear daunting and even menacing: "Secretaries are often suspicious of new equipment, particularly if it appears to threaten their jobs, and so are executives. Some senior executives resist using a keyboard on the ground that such work is demeaning" (Friedrich, 1983, p. 5).

In the home, the computer usually belongs to someone who wants one, and any anxiety experienced may be seen more as a challenge, one in which the computer user is in control. However, parents who are uncomfortable themselves with computers can pass on these negative feelings to their children. "Children aren't born with computer phobia - they catch it from their parents" (Losee, 1994, p. 162).

In addition to the impact that computer technology has had on education, in business and in the home, it has permeated all other areas of society to the point of creating in us a dependency for its benefits and an urgency to keep up with the ever increasing and evolving technology - a necessity in remaining competitive in this technological revolution.

The concern over the appearance of computer anxiety has led to the development of various instruments which measure computer anxiety and computer aptitude, such as the Computer Anxiety Scale (CAS), a modified version of the Computer Attitude Scale; the Computer Anxiety Factor (CAF); Computer Anxiety and Learning Measure (CALM); Blomberg-Erikson-Lowery Computer Attitude Task (BELCAT; Computer Anxiety Index (CAIN); Attitudes Toward Computers Scale (ATCS); Computer Thoughts Survey (CTS); and the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS).

Unlike other types of anxiety and their measurements which deal mostly with the interaction of people to people or situations, computer anxiety is concerned with the interaction between people and computers. Interacting with a machine may be frustrating for the novice as well as for the more experienced computer user when faced with a "difference of opinion" in its operation or when the computer does not perform as expected by the operator. The computer cannot feel disappointment at a lost file, horror at the prospect of a damaged diskette or even care to explain those curt error messages so frustrating to the computer anxious. For many, frustration leads to anxiety which in turn affects performance and may also escalate into physical and emotional symptoms. If the fear of learning reaches a point where it becomes unbearable, the computer anxious may choose not to learn or even try to understand at all. It is a common human trait to fear the unknown. We fear that which we do not understand.