Techno-stress: the new psychopathology of the “digital age”

The irruption in our lives of the technology in the form of computers, internet, smartphones, tablets... it has brought about social, cultural and economic changes that have affected many individuals. No one can doubt the benefits of technology, and its use can be very useful because it allows us to be constantly in connection with almost every corner of the planet. New technologies provide us with new channels of relationship and communication and provide us with access to information in record time, as well as providing us with new leisure opportunities.

But not everything is so beautiful: experts have been warning us for decades about the risks of misuse of technology. For two decades, psychologists have named new disorders that have emerged in the "information age" (also called digital age or it was computer science), As the FOMO syndrome, the Nomophobia and the Techno-stress. We are going to talk about the latter in today's article.

What is techno-stress?

The concept of techno-stress is directly related to negative effects of technology use.

He was baptized by the American psychiatrist Craig Brod in 1984 in his book Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution, who first defined this phenomenon as "an adaptive disease caused by the lack of ability to deal with new computer technologies in a healthy way".

In 1997 the word techno-stress became popular thanks to a book by Larry Rosen and Michelle Well called Technostress: Coping with Technology @Work @Home @Play. The authors define techno-stress as "Any negative impact (direct and / or indirect) of technology on the attitudes, thoughts, behaviors or physiology of an individual's body". For them, the most common and documented form of this phenomenon is information overload, known as infoxication.

But both definitions were not very specific until Marisa Salanova, professor of psychology at the Jaume I University of Castellón, defined techno-stress as follows: "Techno-stress is a negative psychological state that is related to the use of information and communication technologies or the threat of their use in the future. This state is conditioned by the perception of a mismatch between the demands and the resources related to the use of ICT that causes a high level of psychophysiological activation, discomfort and the development of negative attitudes towards TIC".

Techno-stress is a problem for companies

Although techno-stress affects all areas of life, It is in the workplace where the most attention has been paid to this phenomenon. Salanova's vision of techno-stress is related to the “demands-resources” paradigm that has dominated the organizational landscape in recent decades. It is in the world of work, and specifically in the occupational risk prevention departments, where this phenomenon is beginning to be taken seriously.

Stay connected to your computer all day at work, check your mobile phone every 5 minutes, get home and stay connected to your tablet while watching TV... Does it ring a bell? If you feel identified, you are not the only one: we spend 24 hours a day hooked on new technologies.

This situation is what causes techno-stress, and according to a recent study by the UOC (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), techno-stress “It will become a new occupational hazard, since the new forms of work (such as teleworking) and the omnipresence caused by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can give the worker feelings of incapacity, lag or a addiction".

Antonio Cano, president of the Spanish Society for the Study of Anxiety and Stress (SEAS) insists that individuals must be educated, since the misuse of ICT can generate problems such as nervousness and anxiety.

According to the data collected by in the National Survey of Working Conditions which was carried out in 2011, 25% of workers feel burdened by their work. Mainly, This malaise is caused by a fast pace of work, with pressure on deadlines and the simultaneous management of tasks, all of them, factors related to new technologies. The workers most exposed to technological change, overload and information speed (workers in sectors such as communication, finance, administration or science and technology) are those that suffer the most techno-stress.

Types of techno-stress

As with stress, techno-stress is a complex phenomenon that presents different symptoms. According to him National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at work of Spain there are different types of techno-stress. We explain them below.

Techno-anxiety

The techno-anxiety it is the most common type of techno-stress. The person who suffers from it usually experiences high levels of physiological activation that causes discomfort. The tension and the unpleasant sensation is a characteristic feature of the present and future use of new technologies.

Some individuals develop an irrational fear of new technologies, which is known as technophobia. The symptoms of technophobia are: avoiding technology (even avoiding talking about it), anxiety in the presence of technology and hostile and aggressive thoughts towards it.

Techno-fatigue

The techno-fatigue It is similar to burnout syndrome, as it is characterized by negative feelings such as fatigue, mental exhaustion or cognitive exhaustion due to the continued use of new technologies. It can also manifest itself with skeptical attitudes and beliefs of ineffectiveness in the use of ICT.

Some authors speak of a specific type of techno-fatigue: the syndrome of informational fatigue. This is the product of the exposure, consumption and excessive handling of information.

Technoaddiction

The technoaddiction it is characterized by the uncontrollable desire to be connected to ICT at all hours. This behavior causes discomfort and deterioration in the life of the individual.