Technostress is a term referring to the negative psychological effects resulting from the ever-changing world of technology. Screen insomnia, phone addiction, and social media distraction are only some of the ways technology can negatively impact us.
As technology continues to become integrated into our lives, it is becoming increasingly hard to leave some distance from our gadgets. Because of this, our social connections, well-being, and other aspects of our personal lives could suffer.
In the corporate setting, the effects of technostress can be deeply felt. While technological developments pave the way to productivity, this also places a lot of pressure on employees to constantly (and quickly) adapt to these changes. Needless to say, this can get real vexing. This could easily lead to problems such as:
- stress
- fatigue
- trouble concentrating
- burnout
- Information overload
- job dissatisfaction
- low productivity
Handling technostress
So how do we handle technostress? For some, this is just a matter of stepping back and acknowledging the compulsion to be constantly connected.
For others, however, just being off the grid all of a sudden is impractical. With this, companies and individuals should take advantage of the technology itself as a tool for moderation.
For individuals, using the built-in features of your phone that monitor your app usage or downloading apps such as Freedom and Thrive to help you lessen your smartphone use.
For companies, it is a matter of enabling employees to access their computer less. By automating transactions where applicable and respecting the time of employees outside working hours — only calling when completely necessary, an environment which encourages employees to be off their devices can be established.
On the whole, combatting technostress is a matter of recognizing that it is indeed a problem. Actively seeking ways to monitor and regulate our usage of devices is accessible to us, we just have to choose to include it in our systems.
This, on our end, requires discipline. For business entities, it is a matter of accepting that the well-being of their employees is also their responsibility.
