Frederick Kohun, associate dean of the School of Communications and Information Systems at Robert Morris College in Illinois, says that the PC and the Internet, have made people dysfunctional.
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We've got too much information and not enough tools to sort through it
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We can’t process it all
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Back in the 1950s most information was stored in printed form.
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Today print makes up less than .003 percent of the total stored according to students at Berkley University who conducted a survey in 2000 on how much information is in the world.
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The survey suggests print, film, optical, and magnetic content is growing at the rate of 1.5 billion gigabytes a year – that’s the equivalent of 250Mb per person.
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The largest percentage of stored information is digital and its is doubling annually.
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In 2000 about 610 billion emails were sent, the web contained about 21 terabytes of static HTML pages – both are growing 100 per cent annually.
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Usenet newsgroups generate more than three times the number of web pages.
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In March 2002 leading lawyers told the Government that proposed health and safety legislation, which includes stress as a workplace hazard, will open the way for increased litigation.
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So far no-one’s mentioned information overload or techno-stress but you can guarantee it’ll soon become a major issue.
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Technostress is a very real 21st century disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with ever changing technology and the corresponding deluge of data.
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The symptoms are mental fatigue, sore wrists, blurry vision, headaches, aching back or neck and relentless physical tiredness.
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In the UK thousands of workers are seeking treatment for symptoms similar to psychiatric disorders, partly because of the extra stress technology has bought to the workplace.
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In the US it's estimated the average worker spends more than half the day processing documents.
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About one-third of business managers suffer stress from 'information fatigue syndrome'.
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This results in difficulty making decisions and ultimately overflows into personal lives including relationships and the bedroom.
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Information can be addictive – some people can never get enough so decisions are never made in a timely fashion.
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There’s always a nagging uncertainty that just a little more research might make the difference.
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In our efforts to tame the tidal wave we are becoming overwhelmed by irrelevance, preferring quantity to quality.
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Insatiably pursuing information rather than the satisfaction of turning it into knowledge or wisdom.
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It’s time to be empowered by information not overpowered by it.
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Claim your life back and put technology in its place as a tool and not a taskmaster.
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Spend one day a week tidying up your desk and desktop, file for 'future reference' and trash the rest.
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Deal with email messages immediately: respond or remove them.
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I'll get around to it' probably means you won't.
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Getting your information in formation means you’ll be able to find what you need when you need it.
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When we're stressed negativity creeps in.
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Instead of enjoying the challenges presented to us we begin to resent every new imposition.
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When a computer burns out you simply replace a part or upgrade the software
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With humans the damage from workplace stress can be lifelong.
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The danger lies in ignoring the areas of our lives that make us who we are.
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The physical, cultural and spiritual aspects that get lost get lost when we live in the sedentary two-dimensional world of cyberspace.
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Delegate
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Take short breaks
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Exercise
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Laugh more
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Nurture your spiritual life
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Put the spark back
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