Stress and Use of Technology
Most people I talk to agree that we are living in very stressful times. Stress management tools and techniques are more needed than ever. Books about stress are popular. I came across an interesting one recently called Tech Stress, How Technology is Hijacking our lives, strategies for coping, and pragmatic ergonomics by Erik Peper, Ph.D., Richard Harvey, Ph.D., and Nancy Faass, MSW, MPH.
The description on the back of the book starts by saying –“Re-envisioning your relationship with technology to reclaim health, happiness, and sanity in a plugged-in world.”
We cannot get away from technology and probably shouldn’t want to. Technology makes it easier to do most things faster and more efficiently. We rely on new technology and almost forget about how we used to do things before it was available.
After reading about the Tech Stress book in Biofeedback Magazine, I quickly ordered a copy. I have known the main author Erik Peper for over 30 years so I contacted him to congratulate him on the book and ask if he would be willing to do an interview with him about book. He gladly accepted. I had hoped to talk with him for ten or fifteen minutes instead we ended up talking for over fifty minutes about the topic of stress and technology and the book.
Probably the biggest source of stress caused by technology has to be cell phones. We spend lots of time with our necks bent and our heads looking down at our cell phones. This causes physical stress on our neck muscles because of the extra contraction required to hold the weight of our head in that position. It causes stress on our eyes because we are spending lots of time looking at the small screen that is very close to our eyes. Erik Peper says that it is healthier to vary the distance that our eyes focus on from close to far away throughout the day.
Besides the physical stress that using a cell phone can cause we also talked about the emotional stress that it can cause. Every notification, text message, call, and email cause an interruption of our consciousness. Even if we don’t respond, it interrupts what we were thinking about, or it interrupts a moment that we might have not been thinking at all. This is another problem. Technology can cause it to be very difficult to have times during which we are not thinking. Our minds and bodies need times that we are not actively thinking about to rest and regenerate.
We also talked about the problems associated with using laptops and how arranging our work spaces differently can help to reduce the stress caused by using technology.
The book is full of information on minimizing the negative effects of stress related to technology use.
You can see the entire interview at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9elMjee7-8&t=4s
Harry L. Campbell
914-762-4646 – Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com
Author of What Stress Can Do, Available on Amazon.com
Biofeedback Resources International Corp.
