Stress due to modern technology termed as “Technostress” encompasses all possible ways of making a person feel irritated, frustrated, stressed out, and lose out on sleep. The ability of modern man to be continuously socially connected with the world through technology and be simultaneously associated with multitasking has been seen to cause anxiety cumulatively manifested as “technostress”. Technology is beneficial and finds its application in every walk of our lives but it is not an intelligent decision to let ourselves be controlled and our activities are monitored by technology. Therefore, it is suggested by psychologists that clear limits should be set to check human dependence on technology.
Technology makes it more convenient for us to communicate by replying to text messages or emails while in the middle of a situation where there is no access to a computer, such as while we are traveling or in a shop. However, instant communication is not healthy always. Ways of multi-tasking may surely have advantages of its own but without clear limits; they could just be inanimate objects blowing up our minds with an overload of information sometimes being highly redundant and unimportant.
Multitasking in itself is associated with heightened stress responses and an inability to control our own senses and productivity. The speed of executing multiple tasks may result in individuals misjudging their own capabilities. Most of us are so used to multitasking that we have lost the habit of doing a single task at a time. This condition is, however, contrary to our expectations, referred to as “multi-tasking madness” by psychologists. They believe that it is impossible for an individual to keep up with the rapid pace of advancement and development in the field of technology which is towards a continuous increase, and no one could, therefore, multitask forever. Also, the various biochemical and physiological responses that are elicited in our brain and the body as a whole paves the path for further clinical conditions on account of increased dependence on technology. Owing to such factors, our clarity of thoughts may be affected besides making us feel tired, irritable and inability to control our own senses.
“Technostress” is equally detrimental to the interaction of individuals with their families and friends. Indulgence in technology throughout the day does impact the communication between people. Technology with its wide array of multimedia-based activities to offer for recreation may be a temptation which the youth especially the children may not be able to resist. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the parents to act as perfect role models by putting aside their gadgets and devices during social interactions with their children and other members of their family. They should also set rules determining the gadgets to which their children will have access to and decide the amount of time over which the kids could indulge in such technology-driven activities.
Ongoing studies have suggested that technology in many forms could be exploited as a positive tool, however; most of us are incapable of managing the use of this technology by ways in which it could. The increased occurrence of cyber crime and cyber bullying has tagged along with the growing dependence of human interaction through social networking. Display of positive emotions and feelings through pictures in the social media while covering up negative thoughts, could result in making others feel low or sad by comparing their lives to the perfect lives of others in their perception. It is particularly shocking to perceive that kids nowadays aged below 5 years learn to operate smartphones before developing other basic skills. Thus, justifying how the lifestyles of children including teens are overwhelmed by adhering to a lifestyle driven by modern technology.
There could be various implications of understanding if we are affected by “technostress”. Some of the ways of doing so may be as mentioned below;
• Suffering from insomnia due to presence of electronic gadgets such as television, smartphone or laptops in the bedroom
• Spending a considerably large part of time on social networking websites
• Devoting most of the time towards the usage of the phone, computer or laptop
• Keep so busy that meals may get skipped in certain instances
• Drive instead of walking to save time
• Overindulgence in activities such that there is no time to devote for relaxation or sleep
With the growing advances in modern technology, it may not be easy to avoid the ongoing stressful events in our lives. However, measures could be taken to distract ourselves and find a way out of the building pressure in our lives due to our dependence on technology. The key steps to finding a solution to “technostress” could be as follows;
• Devoting some time for mental relaxation through meditation and exercise
• Sleeping or taking rest when need be
• Choosing hobbies which are not driven by technology such as reading or walking
• Banning the use of social media in specific hours of the day
• Restricting the use of mobile phone or laptop in the house until in case of an emergency
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