Tech Stress: Experts Say Setting Limits With
Technology Vital in Increasingly Wired World
12-08-2004 10:49 AM
By MARTHA IRVINE

Katie Achille grew up with the Internet. She was
9 when she first tapped into it _ and quickly
became an avid e-mailer, Web surfer and sender
of instant messages. But when recent computer
troubles left her without regular Web access,
something unexpected happened: To her surprise,
she suddenly felt free.
"I find the break from the Internet somewhat
refreshing," says Achille, now 19 and a junior
at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "After
spending a good portion of my freshman and
sophomore years holed up here in my dorm room
typing away to friends, I feel like I missed
just sitting outside and enjoying the weather or
going for a walk, just because."
As technology's influence in the lives of young
people becomes ever greater, a few teens and
twentysomethings are unplugging _ getting away
from the Internet and other high-tech gadgets,
at least for a while.
It's a backlash, experts say, to being
hyper-accessible by e-mail, instant message,
cell phone calls and text messages. People are
spending more and more time in front of a
computer screen or futzing with technological
devices. Sometimes, they just need a timeout.
"It's like being lost in space. You get lost in
the world of the Internet, games or multiple
instant-message chats," says Michelle Weil,
co-author of "TechnoStress: Coping with
Technology @ Work @ Home @ Play."
She and fellow psychologist Larry Rosen wrote
the book after noticing that more people were
getting stressed out or fatigued by technologies
that are supposed to make life easier.
Dave Greenfield, another psychologist who
specializes in high-tech issues, knows the
feeling well. He regularly carries a cell phone,
a pager, an MP3 player for music, a laptop and a
personal digital assistant, otherwise known as a
PDA _ and says that even he often feels
overwhelmed.
"Until technology gets 'stupid simple,'
equivalent to turning on a light or a television
set, it's going to eat time and energy,"
Greenfield says. Too often, he says, we're
wondering: "Do I have the right adapter? Or the
right battery? Or cable?"
He concedes that young people are often much
better at adopting new forms of technology than
middle-aged people like him are. They also
widely consider computers and other high-tech
devices essential to their lives, evidenced in a
recent survey done by Harris Interactive for the
Business Software Alliance.
A third of young people surveyed said they
"couldn't live without" technology, while
another 50 percent said it was "important."
Still, figuring out how to juggle that
technology is a work in progress, psychologists
and other experts say, and the solution is often
dependent on the individual.
Amanda Lenhart, a researcher who tracks young
people's Web habits, tells the story of one teen
she interviewed who created two screen names for
instant messaging _ the second of which she
shared with just a select few friends to avoid
having to talk to so many people.
"She felt she was too in demand," says Lenhart,
who's with the Pew Internet & American Life
Project. "There are some people who love being
in the mix _ and others who are saying 'Agh,
it's too much! I don't want to be part of the
mix.'"
Ultimately, many people are finding that they
click with some forms of technology more than
others.
Achille, the Rutgers student, prefers phone
calls over having to type to communicate. Once
or twice a week, she uses her cell phone to call
friends back home in Holmdel, N.J. _ or,
occasionally, sends them a funny text message.
"But that's where it ends," she says.
Mac McNeer, a 27-year-old Chicagoan, can't stand
text messages, especially the ads his cell phone
company sends to him. He also dislikes the idea
of having to work out which keys on his cell
phone go with which letters.
"Why would you take several minutes to punch in
a message that would take 10 seconds to leave on
someone's voice mail?" asks McNeer, who keeps
his text message address a secret from friends
and "tries to ignore" the ones who still manage
to send them.
Meanwhile, Cobey Dietrich, a 23-year-old who
works at York College of Pennsylvania, says
she'd much rather talk face to face whenever
possible.
She uses the Internet at work for all day, but
rarely at home.
"If I'm getting good news from someone, I'd
rather hear it in person so I could be there to
be excited for them and give them a hug. Or if
they're upset or hurting, then you can comfort
them," she says.
At the very least, Dietrich would rather receive
a call on her cell phone. But sometimes, she
even turns that off _ a move that causes friends
and relatives to complain: "Why do you have a
cell phone if you don't have it on?"
Indeed, having the ability to stay in constant
contact makes some people feel obligated to be
plugged in 24/7.
"There's a message that setting boundaries isn't
right _ an expectation that we shouldn't set
those boundaries," says Allan Stegeman, a
professor of communications at Drexel University
in Philadelphia.
Greenfield notes that some people also feel
pressure to keep up with the latest technology,
whether they need it or not.
"It points to a larger theme in our culture _
that new things are good and better, and that
more is better, and faster is better. And that's
not always the case," says Greenfield, who wrote
the book "Virtual Addiction," which looks at the
adverse effects of spending too much time
online.
Greenfield recalls a recent fall trip with his
10-year-old son to a YMCA camp, where they were
doing trail maintenance with a group of adults
and other kids _ no TVs, computers or even
hand-held video games.
"These kids had no technology with them," he
says. "And they were as thoroughly entertained
and alive as I've ever seen them."
Weil agrees that taking a break from high-tech
gadgets is vital _ a point she often addresses
on the public speaking circuit. The key, she
says, is using technology to enhance life _ and
taking a step back when it doesn't.
"You need to have it," Weil says, "rather than
it having you."
___
On the Net:

Weil's site: http://www.technostress.com

Greenfield's site:  http://www.virtual-addiction.com/
___
Martha Irvine is a national writer specializing
in coverage of people in their 20s and younger.
She can be reached at mirvine(at)ap.org