If it had been possible, I would have reached through my iPhone and given Larissa Barber a big hug.
Fortunately, physical contact is one of the few things we can’t do with our smartphones these days. But everything else is not only possible, it’s pretty much our lives, certainly our work.
Which is one reason many are feeling what Barber, a psychology professor at Northern Illinois University, has coined “workplace telepressure.”
And I really did want to at least shake her hand in gratitude – hard to do on a phone interview – when she told me the urge we feel to constantly be checking our texts, emails, voice mails and social media may be compromising our emotional and physical health.
Barber, lead author of a new study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, says this telepressure can bring on burnout, a feeling of being unfocused, health-related absenteeism from work and the ever-problematic diminished sleep.
Her study also revealed it’s not necessarily certain personality types or the really dedicated worker who is tethered too closely to technology. Which didn’t surprise me. I’d just come back from a few days with my out-of-state grandkids – where I was checking emails and texts on a regular basis – and I noticed in every airport how 99.9 percent of travelers, no matter their age, had their eyes glued to the gadgets they held in their hands.
Sure, I realize airports are filled with strangers passing in the night (or, in this case, early morning). But there’s no people watching going on anymore, no books being read or random conversations being held. Everyone is too busy checking Facebook, emails or tweets.
Plus, more disturbingly, you see the same thing with families in restaurants, friends at sporting events and for sure with colleagues at meetings, where employees gather around big tables to discuss critical work issues but never raise their eyeballs to actually make eye contact.
What’s causing this preoccupation is what some refer to as a Fast Web click-me, like-me, tweet-me, share-me mentality that left us with atrophied focus and impaired attention spans.
In other words, we’ve linked our use of media to job productivity. Technology is driving us instead of the other way around, these experts say. We feel we must constantly check messages and respond immediately for fear of getting left behind.
“Technology has changed a lot of our habits and routines so quickly,” and because boundaries have not yet been established, says Barber, “we have gone along with it.”
Because we “set unreasonable expectations on ourselves,” she added, “we need to step back and ask, ‘What am I doing?'”
In her classroom, Barber has established a “no gadget rule.” And even though a few students joke about her being a “mean teacher,” most say they are relieved.
Research shows that if people know you are busy, they will leave you alone, she insisted. “We need to learn to manage our responses to things. If we email someone back immediately, what message does that send? That we are available all the time.”
It’s no surprise this NIU prof is a fan of the “Slow Web” movement that, if not gaining momentum, is at least being discussed frequently among all those tech-tethered folks.
“We are starting to have this discussion about availability,” Barber noted, because in the end, this telepressure can negate the advantages of technology, especially when there is no time for “work recovery.”
Her research found the biggest culprits are “social cues” in the workplace. Those could include too many “urgent” emails, pleas to respond immediately or apologies over delays in responding when only hours have passed. Organizations can help ease this pressure, she noted, by encouraging unplugged time and showing respect for work recovery time.
“Any tool is good if it allows us flexibility, if we can control it,” she noted. But “when we lose contol, it is no longer flexible … or inescapable.”
While Barber has published plenty of other studies in her career, this one, she says, seems to really resonate with people – perhaps because of the phrase she and co-author NIU Professor Alecia Santuzzi coined.
If you are getting too many emails or not getting back to people in time, you can “tell them to stop telepressuring you,” she laughed.
Now you know why I wanted to hug this woman. Instead, I will send an email.
