South Africa is a nation in “digital chaos”, with only sheer luck preventing more users from losing precious personal photos, videos and files.
That’s the verdict of digital storage company WD, which has released the results of a study that found that local users store personal files on no fewer than 14 electronic or storage devices, and 60% of them never back up a single item of data.
Carried out among 1 000 South African adult respondents, the study was conducted to celebrate the launch of WD’s new family of personal cloud storage solutions, My Cloud, and found that although 89% South Africans claim they are organised in their daily lives, the complete opposite could be said for their digital footprint.
The research found that South Africans keep files on a plethora of devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, personal computers and USB sticks. Of those that do not back up, 40% blamed their busy schedule and 15% said they cannot be bothered.
With many having a personal reluctance to be digitally organised, 50% of parents have even admitted they’d rather pay their children to back up their files for them than go through the hassle of doing it themselves. Organising parents’ digital content is the new household chore, replacing the traditional pocket money earner of gardening work up and cleaning the car, which ranked in third and second place respectively.
Although South Africans are digital scatterbrains, it appears they fare slightly more favourably than their European counterparts. Of the five European countries involved in the study, Spain was cited as the most digitally disorganised, using 16 devices, with the Germans and Italians not far behind with 15 each.
Anamika Budree, sales manager for WD branded products in South Africa, comments: “Years ago people would get their photos developed and organise them in family photo albums, but now we are a nation in digital chaos with only good fortune preventing us from losing files and photos forever.
“With almost one in five South Africans admitting they don’t know how to back up their all-important data, the new My Cloud personal cloud device not only enables people to organise their data in one place and on one device, but also means that it can be accessed anywhere in an instant, making sharing with friends and family easier than ever before.”
