Net Effects: Plugged In And Stressed Out

"The world is too much with us," William Wordsworth wrote close to 200 years ago. Thanks to the many 24 x 7 devices on the market, his words are even more profound today. Is there no escape?

Sociologists and mental health professionals are of a mixed mind as to whether technology damages our culture or enhances our lives. Mobile phones, pagers, e-mail, the Internet, PDAs and laptop computers give us unlimited and unbroken access to information, shopping and Mom, but also to the office,and everyone else's office, thanks to the proliferation of cell phones and people's willingness to use them to discuss business in public. The concern is that a generation so plugged in risks suffering from alienation, stress-related health problems and broken families.

"I think there are multiple aspects to this, both positive and negative," says Carol Goldberg, a psychologist and president of Getting Ahead Programs. "On the one hand, people are able to have more control over their lives because of virtual time, and they don't have to travel to conduct business or get information. E-mail, for instance, has put us in touch with people we might have lost contact with.

"On the other hand, it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and people feel they have to work harder because it's there and easy to access," she notes. "And that's affecting people's health. Look at higher accident rates and stress rates. If you want people to think clearly, work well and be productive, there must be some boundaries where they can turn work off."

The Invasion Of The Time Snatchers

In February, the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society released one of the first large-scale surveys on the impact of the Internet on society. Norman Nie, a political scientist at Stanford University and principal investigator for the study, says the data shows that "the more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings." Up to a quarter of respondents who use the Internet regularly,more than five hours a week,feel it has reduced the amount of time they interact with friends and family or attend events outside the home.

"The Internet could be the ultimate isolating technology that further reduces our participation in communities, even more than television did before it," Nie says.

It also has enabled work to invade the home without lessening time spent at the office. Twelve percent of those who spend more than 10 hours a week on the Internet are working more at home and more at the office. An additional 16 percent report working more at home and the same amount of time at the office.

"The people most connected are information workers, and we're going through a period of huge economic growth and stress for those people," says Nie. "I believe that employers are looking at those extra free hours they're getting from their people and thinking 'yummy yummy.' But we know people can only work so many hours or weeks in a row before getting work fatigue."

Nie's findings corroborate a Gomez.com and InterSurvey poll released in January 2000 which showed that the Internet is changing work and social habits, often to the detriment of Netizens and their families. Twenty-six percent of the poll's respondents say the Internet has increased the amount of time they spend working at home and another 10 percent say the Internet has decreased the amount of time they spend with family and friends.

This blurring of work and home time is wreaking havoc on families, says Goldberg. "I think with some people it is causing broken families," she says. "It's like golf widows."

Clinical psychiatrist Richard Lannon, co-author of "A General Theory of Love," agrees. "I am hearing complaints from patients, and from their spouses, that they're constantly getting intruded on. This is disrupting family lives dramatically," he says.

One of the problems in controlling the impulse to connect electronically is that as a new phenomenon, "we're probably experiencing an intense penetration of it in society and not picking up on the negative effects of it," says Lannon.

"Our society isn't good at picking up on the negative effects because we're so mobile. This fits into our perception of a society on the go; we tend to dismiss the importance of family and relationships and think about how great the technology is. I think that's bad and we need to pay attention to it," he notes.

The Balance Between High Tech And High Touch

If there is a sense that the technology is less a tool than a tether, cutting the cord is a goal information workers are trying to reach. But, like an addiction, withdrawal is difficult to achieve.

"It's like another drug," says Lannon. "So if you're isolated, you get the sense of connection by going on the Internet and into chat rooms and it feels temporarily relieving."

It's also a representation of ego that some find irresistible. "I think it's a status issue," says Roy Avondet, partner-in-charge of Deloitte & Touche's Northern California Technology & Communications Group. "Plus, people's identities are getting caught up with where they work and not more well-rounded things. If the way you view your value is through your identity at work, you'll always have your beeper on."

Indeed, Lannon and Goldberg both see these technologies as enablers of behaviors or personality traits already in place, like workaholism or introversion. "Are you an isolated bookworm? Do you turn down dinner invitations to watch television? What kind of person were you before technology entered your life?" asks Goldberg.

And employers have to help.

"I think employers aren't doing much to counsel people to set boundaries, and people are trying to do their best for their company," says Avondet. "Employers don't have a good mechanism for identifying people who have gone overboard."

Dana Ardi, global sector leader for TMP Worldwide and the Dr. Dana columnist for The Industry Standard, finds many of the key executives she counsels ask for help in handling e-mail. They find the responsibility of returning e-mails counterproductive, even though it's a productivity tool, because the volume is so great. "There's not one person I talk to on Sundays who isn't in front of their computers checking e-mail," she says.

"It's only going to get more intense," says Nie, who intends to continue studying the social effects of information technology as users' patterns change and more people gain access. "Work has invaded the home, and the boundaries between work and home are gone forever."