Modern Technology – Friend or Foe?

This week, I travelled to a rural community to provide a full day of training on enhanced customer service.  The organizer gave me the address of where to attend and, as is my usual practice, I ensured that I printed off a google map in case the location was not valid on my GPS.  Upon my departure, I entered the stated address into my GPS and headed off in the pouring rain with (what I thought) was plenty of time for any detours which might be encountered along the way.  As it turned out, I am apparently relying on digital technology for accuracy and am repeatedly being let down…..the address in the GPS and on the google maps was at least 12 kms east of where I needed to be…YIKES!  Remember when you used to carry a real map???

Always ready to amend a well laid out plan of attack, I thought I could just grab the cell phone and call my husband to see if he recalled from his days working in the area where this particular address was actually located.  To my chagrin, technology let me down again…sporadic cell coverage prevented solid communication – I was on my own!  

At this point, with my blood pressure rising alongside my fear of letting the customer down, I began to laugh at the absurdity of it all.  I certainly recall a time when mobile digital devices were not an option.  Oh how quickly, technology has raised our hopes and expectations and lowered our patience and tolerance.  Here are some thoughts to ponder about it all….

I welcome your feedback as always:

Thanks to computers, iPhones, Blackberrys and the like, the boundaries between work and home are virtually non-existent in many households. We seem to be ‘on call’ all the time and facing extra stress from this relentless demand for communication. Being in constant communication with family and friends, says Richard Ling, technology professor at the University of Copenhagen, can be demanding and stressful.

As well, more of us, for a wide variety of reasons, are working non-standard hours (could this be because technology allows us to do so?). According to Caught in the Time Crunch: “Non-standard work hours are associated with lower self-reported health, higher levels of stress, psychological distress, greater depressive symptoms, greater relationship conflict for dual-earner couples, and lower life satisfaction.”

“Technology … is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.”                                        C.P. Snow, March 1971
Some other tech-related stresses that were unheard-of even a couple of decades ago include losing important work due to computer crashes; demands of e-mail and voice mail; and dying cell phone batteries (admit it, you, too, have stressed out over these possibilities).

Digital devices are even believed to be ‘rewiring’ young brains. Check out iBrain, Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind, by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan. In the book, the authors talk about how we are being affected by our use of technology: “When our minds partially attend, and do so continuously, we scan for an opportunity for any type of contact at every given moment,” say Small and Vorgan. “(People) no longer have time to reflect, contemplate, or make thoughtful decisions. Instead, they exist in a sense of constant crisis – on alert for a new contact or bit of exciting news or information at any moment.”
There is also something called – bear with me here – “computer stress syndrome,” all due to our life in the digital age. According to a recent CMO Council report: “Today’s digitally dependent consumers are increasingly overwhelmed and upset with technical glitches and problems in their daily lives.” (Combating Computer Stress Syndrome: Barriers and Best Practices in Tech Support)

Recognition of these extra anxieties is not new. In their book TechnoStress: Coping with Technology, published way back in 1997, authors Michelle Weil and Larry Rosen talked about how we feel when technology lets us down: frustrated, scared, stupid, helpless. The issue, Weil says, is one of dependency and when technology fails, we are at a loss.

Whatever happened to the relaxation and the endless free time we were supposed to have when machines did all the work?
“Being available 24-7 is for convenience stores, not people!”     Laura M. Carillo

Although that being said…I have to run now and see if I can figure out why my emails have been blocked and my whole sense of connectedness is unraveling at the seams!