We have become too "plugged in."
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:37 pm
I've been thinking about the "blessing vs. curse" concept of our modern technology, especially as it relates to the workplace. In my own work setting, we have become VERY dependent upon new technology. Our employees are expected to do more and more work since technology supposedly increases productivity. However, due to our new-found dependence, we suffer massive productivity problems when our tech malfunctions. I don't want to to go into too much detail, but our technology has replaced the old way of doing things so much that we cannot do things the old way anymore. New employees don't even have a clue how to do things the old way. IF the tech doesn't work, the job simply cannot get done in many cases.
Now, we get new technology all the time. In my particular field, the tech we depend on is targeted toward our very narrow and specific market. We often end up being the one of the first agencies to implement a new piece of tech, and therefore end up being the beta testers. Much of this new tech is not mature or ready for market. So we suffer massive productivity problems and delays. Yet, the bosses who decide to implement this tech are from the old school, and often don't understand why productivity drops sharply because of these implementation issues.
Further, we are so plugged in to our tech, that we cannot unplug at the end of the work day. It's becoming more and more expected (although not officially "required") that you will reply to cell phone calls, text messages, and emails in your off-work hours. I read some research that suggests anxiety, stress disorders and other problems like attention deficit disorders are sharply on the rise due to our inability to "unplug." Few people seem to realize the negative impacts this constant communication and digital connection seem to have on us all.
Often, when dining out, I'll see a couple or family eating at a table near mine. All of them will have their heads buried in a smartphone for much of the meal. At first I thought, "Families are degrading due to our constant distractions. Families don't talk to each other anymore!" In an unrelated discussion, my wife once commented how she wanted our schedules to be more in-line so we could come home from work, talk about our day at work, have dinner and go to sleep together...the ideal family home life. I later realized that, even on the days when we have the opportunity to do this, we rarely have anything to talk about. We text constantly through the day (something that annoys the shit out of me, but has become part of all of our lives, it seems), and there is little left to talk about when we get home. I realized that families seem to be replacing their face-to-face interactions when they get home from work/school with their one-line digital communications during the day. But there is much that is lost in this method of communication.
I hate text messaging. My phone gets a text message from work, friends, family, telemarketers, banks, etc. about once an hour if I'm not actively engaged in a text-conversation. I can never unplug. Conventional wisdom seems to believe that texting is a less-intrusive method of communication. People have said, "Well, I didn't want to call you...you might have been busy, so I just sent you a quick text." Because of this, texting is rampant, and thus, much more intrusive than a phone call. Because it is so rampant, you cannot escape. I have found that replying to text messages have become far more obligatory than answering a call. People get upset if you don't reply to text messages because "It's easy to send a quick reply, and doesn't interrupt what you're doing as much as a phone call." This line of reasoning is exactly why texting is so much more of a hassle. People don't think twice about sending multiple texts all the time, despite having reservations about making an actual phone call. This "non-intrusive" attitude about texting also means replying to them is much more obligatory. For those of you who attend workplace meetings, how often do you see the attendees answering text messages, playing games, or otherwise distracted by their smartphones, doing anything but paying attention to the meeting? How do we get anything done anymore?
Add all those things together, and you have a race of beings that have a hard time disconnecting from work, don't communicate nearly as much face-to-face as they used to, and assign way to much meaning to mindless, time-wasting distractions such as Facebook games, Twitter and other social media (at least on discussion forums, you can attempt to have a decent debate or conversation).
So what is the price of all this? I don't know the extent...I'm sure there are people with more of an answer than I have. But I do believe personal relationships are suffering, The quality of work we do is being forgotten in favor of quantity, and we are losing our ability to be truly human beings living human lives. We're becoming a race of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-laden beings who experience life in short bursts of intense stimulation, but those bursts of stimulation are devoid of much meaning or fulfillment. We are withdrawing from that which makes us human. Coming from a guy who spend much of his professional and personal time online and "plugged in," the irony is too much! We spend so much time devoted to the immediate nature of our communications and instant results produced by our tech that our professional and personal lives are no longer all that productive.
How much more productive could you be at work if you didn't have a new text message, email or tech-related interruption every few minutes? How much better would the quality of your work be without those distractions? In your home life, how much more relaxed could you be without those constant interruptions? How much better would your relationships be if you shared a meal with your family to talk about your lives, instead of having the Twitter/Text-summarized version of their lives? How much better would your home life be if work didn't bother you every few hours with text messages or emails that can wait until you get back to work, but for some reason are expected to be answered immediately?
For anyone who think what I just wrote is completely incomprehensible and falls into the TLDR category, I'll try to pare it down to a 140-character essay...
Now, we get new technology all the time. In my particular field, the tech we depend on is targeted toward our very narrow and specific market. We often end up being the one of the first agencies to implement a new piece of tech, and therefore end up being the beta testers. Much of this new tech is not mature or ready for market. So we suffer massive productivity problems and delays. Yet, the bosses who decide to implement this tech are from the old school, and often don't understand why productivity drops sharply because of these implementation issues.
Further, we are so plugged in to our tech, that we cannot unplug at the end of the work day. It's becoming more and more expected (although not officially "required") that you will reply to cell phone calls, text messages, and emails in your off-work hours. I read some research that suggests anxiety, stress disorders and other problems like attention deficit disorders are sharply on the rise due to our inability to "unplug." Few people seem to realize the negative impacts this constant communication and digital connection seem to have on us all.
Often, when dining out, I'll see a couple or family eating at a table near mine. All of them will have their heads buried in a smartphone for much of the meal. At first I thought, "Families are degrading due to our constant distractions. Families don't talk to each other anymore!" In an unrelated discussion, my wife once commented how she wanted our schedules to be more in-line so we could come home from work, talk about our day at work, have dinner and go to sleep together...the ideal family home life. I later realized that, even on the days when we have the opportunity to do this, we rarely have anything to talk about. We text constantly through the day (something that annoys the shit out of me, but has become part of all of our lives, it seems), and there is little left to talk about when we get home. I realized that families seem to be replacing their face-to-face interactions when they get home from work/school with their one-line digital communications during the day. But there is much that is lost in this method of communication.
I hate text messaging. My phone gets a text message from work, friends, family, telemarketers, banks, etc. about once an hour if I'm not actively engaged in a text-conversation. I can never unplug. Conventional wisdom seems to believe that texting is a less-intrusive method of communication. People have said, "Well, I didn't want to call you...you might have been busy, so I just sent you a quick text." Because of this, texting is rampant, and thus, much more intrusive than a phone call. Because it is so rampant, you cannot escape. I have found that replying to text messages have become far more obligatory than answering a call. People get upset if you don't reply to text messages because "It's easy to send a quick reply, and doesn't interrupt what you're doing as much as a phone call." This line of reasoning is exactly why texting is so much more of a hassle. People don't think twice about sending multiple texts all the time, despite having reservations about making an actual phone call. This "non-intrusive" attitude about texting also means replying to them is much more obligatory. For those of you who attend workplace meetings, how often do you see the attendees answering text messages, playing games, or otherwise distracted by their smartphones, doing anything but paying attention to the meeting? How do we get anything done anymore?
Add all those things together, and you have a race of beings that have a hard time disconnecting from work, don't communicate nearly as much face-to-face as they used to, and assign way to much meaning to mindless, time-wasting distractions such as Facebook games, Twitter and other social media (at least on discussion forums, you can attempt to have a decent debate or conversation).
So what is the price of all this? I don't know the extent...I'm sure there are people with more of an answer than I have. But I do believe personal relationships are suffering, The quality of work we do is being forgotten in favor of quantity, and we are losing our ability to be truly human beings living human lives. We're becoming a race of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-laden beings who experience life in short bursts of intense stimulation, but those bursts of stimulation are devoid of much meaning or fulfillment. We are withdrawing from that which makes us human. Coming from a guy who spend much of his professional and personal time online and "plugged in," the irony is too much! We spend so much time devoted to the immediate nature of our communications and instant results produced by our tech that our professional and personal lives are no longer all that productive.
How much more productive could you be at work if you didn't have a new text message, email or tech-related interruption every few minutes? How much better would the quality of your work be without those distractions? In your home life, how much more relaxed could you be without those constant interruptions? How much better would your relationships be if you shared a meal with your family to talk about your lives, instead of having the Twitter/Text-summarized version of their lives? How much better would your home life be if work didn't bother you every few hours with text messages or emails that can wait until you get back to work, but for some reason are expected to be answered immediately?
For anyone who think what I just wrote is completely incomprehensible and falls into the TLDR category, I'll try to pare it down to a 140-character essay...