TECHNOSTRESSAmong

Library Professionals of BHU

Ajit Prabhakaran

(Research Scholar)

Banaras Hindu University

Ajit_lis@yahoo.co.in

INTRODUCTION

• Modern Information Technology

• Rapid Growth of Technology

• Technological Change

• Computer–based Catalogues

• Difficult to adjust with Technology

• Variety of Formats

• New form of stress by internets or online

WHAT

IS

TECHNOSTRESS…

Technostress“A modern disease caused by an inability to cope with new computer technologies in a healthy manner. It manifests itself in two distinct and related ways: in the struggle to accept computer technology and in the more specialized form of over-identification with computer technology.”

Craig Brod - 1984

Causes of Technostress

2. Sociological Effect

4. Psychological Effect

6. Physiological Effect

Sociological Effect of Technology

• Demographic Factor

AGE

RACE

GENDER

Psychological Effect of Technostress

• Information Overload

• Frustration

• Job Insecurity

QUANTITATIVE

QUALITATIVE

Physiological Effect of Technostress

• Repetitive Strain

• Over Exposure to VDU

How can an individual break the technostress cycle?

• Identify where the stress comes from

• Decide what can be changed and what can be lived with

• Rank what elements you can work on

• Have a strategic plan

Do you do any of the following?

• Set your email program so it beeps when you have new mail

• Take your laptop, cell phone, or pager, with you when you go on vacation

• Go to bed later, or sleep less, so you can spend more time on-line

When was the last time you heard or said these statements?

• “I hate email messages that have attachments!”

• “That software was just installed. There can’t be an upgrade out already!”

• “My computer just froze up again!! That’s the third time today!”

Manifestations of Technostress

• Struggle to accept technology

• Over identification with technology

Technostress Affects

• Office support personnel

• Librarians

• Professionals and executives

• Bankers

• Store clerks

• Home computer users

• Students and adolescents

• Internet Users

Technostress has nothing to do with your level of technological

savvy

Common Causes of Technostress

• Pressure of staying current on new technology

• Inadequate and insufficient training on new technology

• Inadequate or outdated computer software/hardware

• Inadequate or lack of computer staff

Common Causes of Technostress(continued)

• Poor ergonomics

• Multitasking madness

• Incorrect software/hardware configurations

• Failing to anticipate problems

Effects of Technology

• Eye fatigue

• Muscle and skeletal strain

• Emotional stress

• Video Operator Distress Syndrome (VODS)

Other terms for Technostress….

• Computer stress

• Computer anxiety

• Negative computer attitudes

• Technology aversion

• Computerphobia

• Cyberphobia

• Computerphilia

Computerphobia

Extreme behavior related to a general fear of change

Cyberphobia

A result of inexperience and apprehension about computers and

the Internet

Computerphilia (a.k.a. computer addiction)

Individuals experience microcomputer mania

Symptoms include: cruising computer stores, using computer terms in non-computer conversations, social

withdrawal, sleep disturbance, lack of exercise, overspending on computers, & anxiety when separated

from their computers

Most people have experienced mild forms of technostress

Results of Extreme Stress

• Health related problems - cardiac problems - hypertension - migraine headaches

• Job burnout “...a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do “people work’ of some kind.”

Mastery of the equipment is no sure defense against technostress

Coping With Technostress

Coping is the process of managing external and internal demands that

are perceived as taxing or exceeding a person’s resources

10 Ways to Overcome Technostress

1. Maintain realistic expectations

2. Wean yourself of the need to be available all the time

3. Remember how to do things the “old-fashioned” way

4. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you make a mistake

5. Educate yourself about new developments

There was a time when information was a resource that helped human beings to solve specific and urgent problems of their environment. Society changed the way we access or view those resources be developing technology. The day has come when it is virtually impossible to avoid using technology.

“Technostress Overload Syndrome, even in my sleep I moan. Like a rising tide, a drowning man lying in the foam. Information piling up around me in my home, the network news an endless drone.

Technostress Overload Syndrome, I looked around my room. All of the headlines were preaching gloom and doom. All of the stations were spreading fear of whom, might unleash the next disaster, boom.

Technostress overload Syndrome, I even get it on the phone. It comes in bits and bytes, over the dial tone, a flood of information till I just zone, have to hang it up and be alone.”

Byron Homes Shafer - © 1995

Is technostress a passing problem or a long-term concern?

Technology is Never One Sided

A new technology sometimes creates more than it destroys. Sometimes, it

destroys more than it creates.

“All our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.”

Henry David Thoreau

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”Pogo