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TODAY’S TECHNO-STRESS: High-tech gadgetry and demands stress workers

The research finds tools like computers and telecommunications equipment are creating high stress at the office. Information overload and the latest gadgets to handle it all may be hazardous to one’s health, say mental health experts.

In the survey, respondents rated losing information on a computer higher than the stress of moving or changing jobs.

Psychologists say some of the stress of modern times can be prevented--or at least reduced.

CYBER-CRAZED

“You feel like you’re racing a thousand miles an hour on the inside,” says project manager Lynn Ketzel, who, on this launch morning of her company’s new Intranet debut, awakes at 4:30AM with a headful of last minute details. “Everything has to be done now, now, now.”

Ketzel is Internet technology project manager for The San Diego Union Tribune newspaper.

From the office to the grocery store to the gas pump and bank, Ketzel, like many, feels that technology has taken control over people, like HAL, the threatening computer in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

“Things are upgrading all the time, they’re becoming more complex, programs are bigger, networks are jammed,” says Louis Shook, who supervises Creative Services at the Tribune. “I feel like I should be using the Internet more, seeing what’s out there: it’s overwhelming.”

WEARY WORKFORCE

Frustration, anger, despair: they’re all a part of an emerging mental health issue that some called “techno-stress.”

“It’s like trying to juggle a whole bunch of balls all at the same time and watching them all fall to the floor,” reports Larry Rosen, PhD a professor of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Rosen studies and writes books about techno-stress which he describes simply as “the irritation and frustration we’re all feeling by being part of this technological world.”

In a 4 year study of the phenomenon, co-authored by Michelle Weil, PhD, Rosen discovered a very tired and wired workforce. “There is no more down time anymore,” he says. “You go on a vacation: you take your laptop, your cell phone, and your pager, and you call your voice mail.”

The average worker is bombarded with 189 messages a day, in one form or another.

The phone--now a wireless appendage for many--is another ever-present work tool demanding our attention. Says one office worker forced to be reachable 24/7: “[The cell phone] is the little leash that [managers] give us so they can track us down, hunt us down. If the signal goes out and management is trying to get ahold of you, it’s like it’s my fault.”

BOUNDARIES

Extra stress, body aches, and loss of sleep are all linked to information overload. Says office tech specialist, Missy Climax, “When they have to get their work done and I can’t get their computers to work, it’s a lot of weight on my shoulders.”

The pressure to multi-task, to change focus with short bursts of concentration to perform several things simultaneously, spells trouble, says Rosen. “We think we’re like a computer and we try to do way too many things at the same time,” he says. “They toss and turn with thoughts buzzing around in their heads with all the things they were trying to remember to do all day while they were multi-tasking.”

Obviously, not all technology users feel afflicted. And even some who find technology stressful nevertheless say it improves the quality of their life. In fact, in a recent online survey by FamilyPC of 804 adults, 55 percent of all adults said technology has made their lives easier.

Whether one resists or embraces the latest gadgetry, people are cooped up in their homes and offices more because of it, Rosen finds. “They’re simply not getting out, there’s no down time anymore,” he says.

Rosen believes the solution to alleviating techno-stress and living a reasonably balanced life of work and leisure is setting boundaries. “Right now technology is controlling our lives,” he says. “We have to control when it can find us, when it can get us, and how much it’s allowed to have us.”

Link: Techno-Stress Survey

Reference: innx health

Four high school boys afflicted with spring fever skipped morning classes. After lunch they reported to the teacher that they had a flat tire.
Much to their relief she smiled and said: "Well, you missed a test today so take seats apart from one another and take out a piece of paper."
Still smiling, she waited for them to sit down. Then she said: "First Question: Which tire was flat?"

For more information on this and other subjects go to Interventions Archive.  The EFAP assists you and your family resolve personal problems and maintain healthy and productive lives. 

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