Technostress

I came across a new “word” this past week. Technostress. Techno – meaning modern technology - and stress – meaning an inability to cope with said technology. Feeling overwhelmed by your phone and computer and the constant notifications and never-ending updates? Welcome to technostress. Does the entire functioning world seem to be online - banking, shopping, socializing, making medical appointments, getting directions, WORK? Welcome to technostress. Welcome to a modern day anxiety that can burn you right out. Is this a generational thing? Are older generations more susceptible to it? I wonder. I didn’t go on the internet or have a cell phone until the mid-nineties when I was well into my forties and even then I didn’t do it all that often. We had a house phone with an answering machine that we depended on. Email? Text messages? What were those? If I didn’t call someone which meant pleasantly talking for a while, I wrote letters and mailed them. When I did finally start emailing and texting – oh, yes, I do it now – it was, and still is, hunt and peck with the index finger, especially on the phone. I’ve been told you can dictate a text message. Really? It’s beyond me. Oh – and then there’s streaming. Most of my life there were three TV channels, and then later there was ESPN and then later still, there was HBO which you paid for. Movies? The TV set had an attached video cassette player and then later, a CD player. You rented both cassettes and CDs at Blockbuster video. The news? I had a morning paper delivered. I’d glance at it, trying to keep track of the state of the world – and then put it aside. The state of the world would now have to wait until the following morning. It ain’t that way no more. The news follows you throughout the day like a hungry dog sniffing your heels. Talk about stress. Still… I wonder. What’s it like to grow up having a computer in your backpack and a cell phone in your pocket? What’s it like to have the world at your fingertips from day 1? What’s it like to start texting friends as soon as you’re old enough can spell, your fingers flying over the keypad, your eyes focused elsewhere – though certainly not on the traffic intersection you’re about to cross. And besides, who needs friends when you have a million connections online? What’s it like to have Ai do your homework for you. What’s it like to have access to every film or TV show ever produced, all just a computer click away. A generational thing? Yes, it very well might be. But I suddenly wonder if growing up with all this, being dependent on it, would make you even more susceptible to technostress than it would my generation.

So what do we do? All of us, that is.

From what I’ve read, we can start by putting the phone and computer aside whenever possible and make a point of reconnecting with the “real” world. Go for a walk or a hike or have dinner with friends. Get some exercise. Play some tennis, some golf. Go to the theatre or a music club. Do things that involve people. Join a book club – one that specializes in hard cover editions. When you have a moment of respite don’t race immediately to podcasts or news sites or the online social diaspora. Breathe. Connect with the light. And remember.

Unless sit’s making you a ton of money, an online audience is irrelevant.