Rage against the machine

We usually hit machines because we’re mad at them. Unlike a child or a friend or a spouse, machines exist for the sole purpose of doing what we tell them to do, and we are infuriated when they fail to do it. In most cases, that failure frustrates the fulfillment of a desire that we have been confidently anticipating. Hot and thirsty, you put your money in the vending machine, happy in the knowledge that in a matter of seconds you will have a cold refreshing beverage. When it doesn’t come, you are left with neither the satisfaction you expected nor the money you paid for that satisfaction.

There is no rational alternative

We also hit machines because there is no rational alternative. One can’t argue or reason with a machine. One can’t cajole and convince it to do what it is refusing to do. Feeling powerless and left with no immediate opportunity for grievance or appeal, sometimes the only thing left to do is to give it a good whack. In the case of a vending machine, this might provide some temporary satisfaction. Attacking your own equipment, however, may be cathartic but usually leads to negative outcomes.

Hope springs eternal

On rare occasions, taking anger out on a machine can actually be effective. A few hard knocks on a vending machine display window might be just enough to release that Snickers from the twisting metal coil that holds it dangling. This seldom works, but if you’ve ever had the experience---even just once---of hitting a machine successfully, then you’ll probably try it again and again for the rest of your life. In the good old days of analog technology, sometimes a blow to the system was a useful strategy, helping to restore, perhaps, a bad electrical connection. (This was the case when Fonzie pounded the jukebox and when that Skylab space station astronaut got the power supply up and running by hitting it with a hammer.) Today’s digital technology responds less well to anger and violence. I know of no cases in which hitting a poorly functioning laptop with a hammer ever ended well.

Overall effectiveness of taking your anger out on machines:

Chances of positive results are high if your goal is to break the machine. Those chances are considerably lower if your goal is to get the machine to perform to your expectations. As is the case with dealing with humans, anger may be temporarily satisfying, but it usually doesn’t get you what you want.