Where is your valuable time going?
Australians are enormous users of online technology, with a population averaging around 7 hours a day on their technological devices! However, Aussies are not the only population online. Globally, there are nearly 3.2 billion people actively using the web!
Let’s face it, these days technology runs our lives. As the world becomes more interconnected, knowledgeable and instrumented, the people of the world are becoming less connected to themselves than ever.
I will admit I also get sucked into the online world. Its becoming harder these days not to, with everyone else converting online.
But in truth, we are only given one precious and short life. Is this the way we want to be spending our time… through a virtual reality?
We know that the advances through technology has made living more simplistic and effortless, but have we awaken to see the inevitable change it has produced? We unconsciously see it everyday.
Stepping onto a train or sitting in a waiting room. Look around and nearly everyone will have their eyes fixated on the screen in front of them. Not much social interaction hey? This “obscures the unpleasant truth that social media is the takeover of the social by the corporate”.
Social media erupted when companies strategically worked out how to utilize peoples activities they were currently doing and created it easier to complete online. Alongside this they displayed it as ‘content’ and funnelled our tasks into their revenue streams, creating our life easier… so it seemed.
In a minimal amount of time, technology has sky-rocketed in the market. To imagine a life without it, for some people does not exist. With little research into the psychological, mental and physical health risks involved with spending so much time online, we truly are the guinea pigs of this fast, ever-growing online world.
The way we now labour also has changed accordingly, with managers encouraging employees to do “more with less”. This has accumulated due to corporate cost-cutting measures.
Overall this has created significant problems to work and personal lives of employees who feel forced to use their online technologies to catch up on work missed in the office.
Presence bleed is a term to describe this changing behavioural dimension and professional expectations in the online workplace. Essentially, it is harder for employees to feel completely free of work commitments due to online technology.
In fact, it was such a problem that France made a law that provides employees the right to disconnect from work outside registered hours. Politicians based the law on studies showing that employees, who are contacted for work-related matters outside of work hours, suffer from various health impairments compared to those who are never contacted.
In professional workplaces, online technologies have changed our availability. Communicating over platforms have enabled employees or colleagues to contact anyone, anytime, extending contact hours beyond paid hours. An invasion of their space and time, whenever. This leads to the question, where is the distinct line between work and leisure?
It has also been found that people who check their emails less regularly at work were found to be less stressed than those who checked them continuously. This shows that frequent use of technological devices even while at work increase stress levels.
This constant connection for the always-present potential for work is not only a new form of affective labour, (that needs to be monitored) but also creates unpredictability.
Your peaceful weekend can turn dramatically because of an urgent work email or call. This unpredictable, sudden notification can spiral you from relaxation mode to work mode causing stress and a constant state of activation.
Additionally, growing evidence depicts that using phones during our leisure time interferes with our own ability to disconnect from work. Unplugging our phones provides the space to recharge from the stress we face on a daily basis at work.
As economic conditions deteriorate and workers are forced to work reduced hours for the benefit of the company, regulations need to be put in place to monitor the work-load completed at home.
By developing a healthier, more conscious relationship with our devices, we can learn how to positively benefit off them, rather than them ruling our lives.
While it remains to be seen exactly how online technology will affect our personal growth, some changes are already starting to become present, especially the balance between workload and home life.
