15Jul/09
Non-visible displays and anxiety
There are many situations in which you interact with another person and a computer at the same time. For example, checking out with a receptionist at a doctor's office, or paying the clerk at the check-out line in the grocery store. Do such transactional situations evoke anxiety (or perhaps distrust or fear) in the non-computer-operating person when they cannot see the display? Say, for example, a store customer is going through the usual routine at the check-out line: the clerk scans her goods, one by one, and then presents her with the tally. If only the clerk can see the final tally, does this effect the customer in any way?