In a world where technology is omnipresent in every aspect of our lives, excessive digital hours have become a growing problem in the workplace. The technostress and computer fatigue are two increasingly common illnesses that affect the health and well-being of workers.
Here emerges the right to digital disconnection which offers in labor relations a powerful path towards a healthier balance between work, family and personal life.
Although at first glance they may seem like concepts that define the same occupational risk, since they are basically a consequence of not disconnecting digitally, the truth is that they are two different problems.
The term technostress was coined by the American psychiatrist Craig Brod in 1984. in his book ‘Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution’. He defined it as “an adaptive disease caused by the lack of ability to deal with new computer technologies in a healthy way.” It is a negative psychosocial phenomenon related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) that causes tension, anxiety or discomfort.
This type of stress can be caused by various factors, such as information overload, technological complexity, uncertainty, technological invasion and computer problems, among others.
Triggers of technostress in the workplace may include:
- Insecurity: feeling of insecurity related to the use of technology.
- Overload: excess information or technological tasks that exceed the individual’s handling capacity.
- Complexity: difficulty understanding or using certain technologies.
- Uncertainty: lack of clarity about the operation or results of the technologies used.
- Technological invasion: feeling of invasion or intrusion by technology in work life.
How to prevent or mitigate technostress
These factors can contribute to development of technostress and affecting health and the well-being of workers in the work environment. In this sense, companies can mitigate their impact on workers, with prevention measures, which, among others, may include:
Worker training and engagement: Provide training and resources so employees can effectively manage technologies and reduce uncertainty.
Technical support in technological matters: Provide technical assistance and support to resolve computer and technological problems.
Bringing information technologies closer to workers: promoting a balanced and healthy use of technologies, encouraging breaks and disconnections to prevent overload and technological invasion.
These preventive measures can contribute to improve job satisfaction, productivity and worker well-beingreducing the negative effects of techno-stress in the work environment.
Computer fatigue: an emerging occupational risk in the current digital age
Computer fatigue It is an occupational risk expressly recognized in the Spanish legal system for not disconnecting digitally.
As I explain in ‘Computer fatigue at work’, it refers to information overload and overexposure to digital devices that results in mental and physical exhaustion due to lack of proper disconnection and rest.
Not only does it cause stress to the worker because they are exhausted and tired of the excessive use of technology.also boredom and boredom according to new studies (focused on a variant of this fatigue, such as the well-known Zoom fatigue).
Be that as it may, to mitigate the impact of computer fatigue on workers and promote a healthy digital disconnection, Workers, as the regulations recognize, have a right that must serve as a barrier to avoid this overload. This right to digital disconnection translates into the following active measures by the worker:
Power to turn off and deactivate any electronic communication device with the companywith abstention from its ownership.
Power to refuse the assignment of a business device outside of work hours.
Power to reject and interrupt communications from the employer outside of work time or day.
Power to reject and not execute business orders that involve digital work during disconnection time.
Power not to respond to the employer’s demands and communications during the disconnection time, even if they were made within the working day or time.
Power not to be subject to corporate retaliation for the exercise of the indicated actions.
By allowing these preventive measures to be adopted by workers as it is an expressly recognized right, companies can contribute to reducing computer fatigueimprove your well-being and promote a healthier and more balanced work environment.
Detect and prevent computer fatigue
Employers, as guarantors of the safety of their workers, must be able to detect the triggers of computer fatigue in the workplace. Factors such as:
- Information overload: Excess information received through digital devices, emails, messages, etc., which can overwhelm workers.
- Lack of disconnection: Staying constantly connected to digital devices without taking adequate breaks can lead to mental and physical exhaustion.
- Lack of breaks: not taking active breaks during the work day to rest your eyes, stretch your body and relax your mind.
- Excessive device use: Spending long hours in front of digital device screens without enough breaks can contribute to computer fatigue.
- Lack of clear boundaries: Failure to establish boundaries between work and personal life can lead to increased exposure to technology and computer fatigue.
- These factors can contribute to the development of computer fatigue in the work environment, affecting the health and well-being of workers.
Symptoms and causes of technostress
Digital fatigue and technostress are very similar illnesses, although it can be argued that fatigue may be more of a symptom of technostress, which focuses specifically on the impact of not disconnecting digitally on the health and performance of workers.
Given the above, taking into account that technostress covers a broader spectrum of ICT-related stressors, while computer fatigue focuses on the negative effects of overexposure and lack of disconnection, It is necessary to treat these two aspects together in the risk assessment so that workers do not suffer damage to their mental health.
*To see the note on the original site, click here.
*Written by Francisco Trujillo Pons, professor and researcher of Labor and Social Security Law, Universitat Jaume I.
*The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
