In the 21st century technology has developed so far that we are able to contact people on the other side of the world instantaneously, we can quickly download information to our mobile phones and can now connect to our work computers from internet cafes, from the pub and even from the garden! Has technology actually made our lives easier or more complicated?
In the early part of the last century, much of the technology that we use today would be considered witchcraft... machines that fly not only across the globe but into space! Moving pictures? Mobile phones? Can you imagine the reaction to all of these?
In the middle of the 20th century human kind was almost on the moon... so it was not so far a leap to imagine that by the year 2000 we would be holidaying on it! Computers had already made our lives easier by cracking codes during the second world war... in a far shorter time than a team of humans could. So we can see that some people believed that technology would make the lives of those in the 21 st century far easier... we would cars that hover, robot housekeepers and be spending less time working.
The 21st century is now here and much of the science fiction from the 50s and 60s has not emerged. Computers are everywhere - in our offices, our cars, our homes and in our pockets! We can now check our e-mails on our mobile phones, can login to the office computer from home, and can be in constant contact.
If technology is not used effectively and wisely, we can very soon find that it dictates our day. Do you always answer your mobile when it rings? Do ever have it turned off? How often do you check your e-mails? How often do you log into the office computer? Are you still working on work documents at midnight on your laptop? Do you take your laptop on holiday with you? How often has your office contacted you when you were on holiday or off sick -and if they did - was it really REALLY necessary? The problem with the ease of accessibility to the office machines, or indeed for people to contact us, is that this means that higher demands can be placed upon us, and this is especially true for those who cannot say no, delegate nor manage their time effectively.
Technology can also be very distracting which in itself can also have a major impact on the ways in which we manage our time and our tasks. Do you have messenger running while you are doing essential tasks? How many times do you check your e-mail while working on an important and usually time critical task? Do you really need to check that website before the task is done? How many times do you receive (and in some cases forward) e-mails that are actually SPAM (you know the ones - "FWD cute picky send back or you are not my friend").
How often do you find your blood pressure raising, and your temper flaring during the teeth gnashing swearathon when the technology lets you down? When the computer crashes in the middle of an important document, as the photocopier jams, as the mobile looses signal? Our reliance on technology can sometimes be so great that we often can be at odds for what to do when the technology breaks down... yet is there a way we could prevent this? Is there a way we could react differently? Are we relying on the technology more than we rely on our humanity?
From the above we can see that technology if used in a wise way can not only be distracting, and anger producing but can be counter-productive. Yet if we learn to use technology in a wise way, it can be the tool that makes our lives easier, perhaps not to the extent envisioned in the latter part of the 20th century but certainly in a way that can reduce our stress. My next article will look at how we can make our 21st century technological world work for us in reducing our stress.
If you have a question about Stress, you can submit it on [http://www.askmartine.co.uk]
Martine H McFarlane is a Stress Management Consultant and has a background in Clinical Hypnotherapy, Complementary Therapies and Information Technology. Martine has previously worked in two city centre universities.
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