Technostress: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms And How To Prevent It

The English word “technostress”, coined in 1984 by Craig Brod, is understood as a stress syndrome caused by new technologies In other words, technostress is the response that the individual manifests when having to manage the most complex form of knowledge and the large amount of information offered by new technologies, such as mobile phones or computers.

Stress manifests itself when a person must endure prolonged exposure to intense pressure. Thus, when this pressure becomes excessive, both in intensity and duration, the individual can manifest a stress condition, often accompanied by disorders or dysfunctions of a physical, psychological or social nature.

In this sense, technostress or technological stress is a form of stress caused by the excessive, excessive and dysfunctional use of modern technologies, with significant impacts on the social and work life of the individual. Therefore, we could relate the main causes of technostress with:

• Management of a large volume of information.
• Excessive use of technological devices.
• Hurry in the execution of operations.

Other aspects that can influence the appearance of this pathology may be posture or work modalities such as smart working, who make technology their main tool.

What causes technostress? The main symptoms of technological stress can be divided into two macrogroups:

• Physical symptoms: among them we can find insomnia and sleep-wake rhythm disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, headache, chronic fatigue, increased heart rate, cardiovascular disorders, tingling in the extremities, sweating, cervical pain, hormonal and menstrual disorders in women or stress-related skin disorders, such as psoriasis or dermatitis.
• Mental or psychological symptoms (behavioral and cognitive): irritability, depression, behavioral changes, decreased sexual desire, crying spells or apathy.

However, we must keep in mind that the symptomatology of technostress has a subjective nature. In fact, in many cases, the syndrome is not easily identified and runs the risk of degenerating until it becomes a strong or total impediment in the development of daily activities and in the relational sphere.

Exposure to technostress can cause some pathologies, which manifest themselves through recognizable symptoms and effects at various levels, causing different pathologies and disorders.

• Subjective: apathy, boredom, frustration, guilt, irritability, sadness, depression, panic attacks, euphoria, anxiety, fatigue.
• Behavioral: dysfunction of eating behavior, alcohol and drug use, excitability, restlessness, difficulty speaking, attacks of anger, decreased desire, impatience with other people, aggression, even passivity, tendency to isolation, inability to act.
• Cognitive: difficulty performing tasks, dysfunction in decision making, deficits in attention and concentration, reduction and loss of efficiency, difficulty working in a team, mild amnesia, decreased intellectual functioning, increased sensitivity to criticism, distortions and misunderstandings of situations.
• Physiological: hypertension, cardiovascular disorders, migraine, excessive sweating, dry mouth, shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, tingling in the extremities, back and chest pain, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, mental fatigue and gastrointestinal disorders.
• Organizational: absenteeism, low productivity, high accident rate, antagonism in the workplace, dissatisfaction, delay and malfunction in productive, organizational and management processes.

As countless research on the subject demonstrates, the effects of technostress can seriously affect the physical and psychological level of a person, as well as cause enormous productive, organizational and economic damage to companies. For this reason, it is important to prevent technological stress and related manifestations.

Primary intervention measures to prevent technostress can develop at two levels:

• Individual level: allows the worker to implement behaviors to change the situation (problem-solving strategies).
• Organizational level: reducing the number of requests made to workers and implementing technical support and training on correct use.

How to treat technostress

Meditation is one of the most effective ways to prevent and combat technostress. The state of consciousness induced byMeditation helps reduce the activity of the limbic system which will mitigate emotions and, consequently, stress.

Therefore, companies and their collaborators could intervene with practices such as meditation, physical activity, regenerative breaks, holistic disciplines, yoga or other relaxation techniques such as autogenic training. These techniques slow down our thoughts and “calm and cool” our brain.

Likewise, it is essential that training be carried out to raise awareness about the problems that the excess of new technologies can generate in our lives.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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