HealthSurfing.com article

TODAY’S TECHNO-STRESS:

High-tech gadgetry and demands stress workers

A recent study finds high-tech is creating high stress for workers

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In concept, technology is intended to make life easier. But according to a four year study of business attitudes toward technology, many of today’s office workers are intimidated by high-tech gadgetry and report longer and harder hours.

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 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.”

-- I'm Here, I'm There, (I'm Everywhere,@So.Beware), December 09, 2000

Answers

>The pressure to multi-task, to change focus with short bursts of concentration to perform several things simultaneously, spells trouble, says Rosen

Square Peg - Round Hole, methinks. Some jobs require individuals who are good at multi-tasking. What's worse is giving someone who can multi-task a robotic job, such as some type of assembly-line task. The stress levels can get high there, too.

Seems like in the olden days, a good personnel supervisor could match candidates to jobs. Today, with software programs picking employees (e.g., Resumix), there's no early intervention to keep square pegs from being jammed into round holes.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), December 09, 2000.

What's resumix?

-- cin (cin@cin.cin), December 09, 2000.

"Resumix™ is a simple, easy-to-use, web-based recruiting solution. Designed for organizations that want to be free of managing an IT infrastructure or resume processing administration. The result is a powerful set of staffing solutions delivered right to the desktop of everyone in your hiring circle. Now your entire team can instantly share and update information for the most efficient recruitment process."

Basically, Cin, a operator can scan computer scannable resumes into a database, and anyone can then search the database using search words. Let's say I need a secretary who can handle Windoze 2000. I input secretary + windows + 2000, and the computer searches the database and kicks back the resumes of the candidates who have those words on them. The candidates themselves may be ax murderers, but the computer won't tell me that. A really lousey way to pick employees if you ask me, and there have already been lawsuits at places like the Univ of AZ over implimenting this software. Some companies like it because it allows them to downsize their HR departments.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), December 09, 2000.

And here's another problem, Cin. I just used an older word, "secretary," rather than "office assistant." If the candidate didn't use the term "secretary," on the resume than his or her resume won't show up in my search. I may have accidently overlooked at least a dozen fine candidates.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), December 09, 2000.

Oh? I'm supposed to use "office manager," now? Okay...whatever. Just don't make me do all of my own word processing.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), December 09, 2000.

aha sort of like a resume database with keyword search. gotcha and thanks =o)

-- cin (cin@cin.cin), December 09, 2000.