Technology%20Addiction%20in%20the%20Workplace

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Technology Addiction in the Workplace

• Who is Responsible?
• Taylor Danner Sally Lewis

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Addiction

• the state of being enslaved to a habit or
  practice or to something that is psychologically
  or physically habit-forming, such as narcotics,
  to such an extent that its cessation causes
  severe trauma
• A behavior becomes an addiction when it
  interferes with normal body functions such as
  sleeping and eating, with work, productivity, and
  with social and family relationships.

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The Problem

• employees experience constant connectivity to
  workplace
• Technology addictions develop
• Should employers be held liable?

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The Debate

• Is it ethical for employers to either encourage
  or to require their employees to stay connected?
• Currently, is there an appropriate or fair
  implementation of wireless technologies at the
  workplace and at home?
• Should addiction to such devices be attributed to
  employers who insist on their use- both inside
  and outside the office?

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Who do You think should be blamed?

• Employer
• Employee
• Manufacturers of the devices

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Gayle Porter (Associate Professor at Rutgers
University)

• "There are costs attached to excessive work due
  to technology. Information and communication
  technology (ICT) addiction has been treated by
  policy makers as a kind of elephant in the room
  -- everyone sees it, but no one wants to
  acknowledge it directly. Owing to vested
  interests of the employers and the ICT industry,
  signs of possible addiction -- excess use of ICT
  and related stress illnesses -- are often
  ignored."

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How can you tell the difference?

• Employees Choice vs. Employers Manipulation
• Porter When professional advancement (or even
  survival) seems to depend on 24/7 connectivity,
  it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish
  between choice and manipulation

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The Employers ARE to Blame

• The technology addiction problem is due to the
  employers and their high demand for employees to
  stay connected so frequently. This demand forces
  employees to be constantly connected, inside and
  outside of the workplace, and therefore the
  employee has no choice.

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Why stay connected?

• Manipulation
• Fear
• Pressure
• Often employees are given things by the company,
  like cell phones and laptops, in order to stay
  connected.

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Manipulation

• What if the employer is manipulating the employee
  to be connected for the employers benefit?
• Porter If an employer manipulates an
  individual's propensity toward workaholism or
  technology addiction for the employer's benefit,
  the legal perspective shifts.

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Fear and Pressure

• Fear of missing out
• Afraid of being fired or missing a promotion
• Pressure to produce more
• Pressure to get ahead
• Porter But for an employee looking to get
  ahead, get a raise or keep a job, staying
  connected with work during evenings and on
  weekends is more of a necessity than a choice

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Vacation a time to relax?

• America Online and Opinion Research Corporation
• Polled 4,000 adults
• 60 of e-mail users check e-mail while on
  vacation
• The Sheraton Chicago Hotel

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Whats next?

• Suing the employers
• Porter If companies develop a culture
• in which people are expected to be available
  24 hours a day, then they
• should be prepared for the physical
• and psychological consequences
• Similar case Barney

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• Many employers have programs that help their
  workers who have other types of addictions.
  Technology addiction could have as much damage to
  the mental health as other things do. Do you
  think that employers should be responsible for
  providing their employees with help if they are
  addicted?

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The employer should not be liable

• unless employers require their employees to be
  accessible after business hours, they are not
  liable because technology proficiency is
  important for most competitive companies, and the
  risk of becoming dependent on technology should
  be considered an equal risk to other work related
  hazards

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History of Addictive Behaviors

• Addiction occurred years before the age of
  technology
• Long list of compulsive behavior treatment
  centers
• When a person cannot exercise personal control?
  disorder

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Workaholics

• addicted to work
• lead to or be mistaken for technology addiction
• Not contributed to unreasonable demands of the
  employer
• Based on an individual desire and compulsive
  behavior.

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• Ivan Goldberg, M.D.- There's no such thing as
  Internet addiction. The Internet is about as
  addictive as work Sure, there are workaholics,
  but they're simply working to avoid the other
  problems in their lives
• Gayle Porter- If people work longer hours for
  personal enrichment, they assume the risk.

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Psychiatrist David Averbach

• Personal restraint is really the key, and can
  employers be liable for (lack of) personal
  restraint?
• these technological devices only work when they
  are turned on, and that an employee is capable of
  turning them off outside of business hours

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Technology addicted employees are Not beneficial
to employers

• Misuse of technology within business hours? lower
  productivity
• opposite affect of efficiency
• Companies establish guidelines for use

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Finding the source

• communication through technology is not
  restricted to the workplace
• Pinpointing employers ?new possibility of law
  suits
• Judy Olsen (professor of business information
  technology psychology) Are employers
  responsible for people getting lung cancer
  because they allow smoking on the premises

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Students, Employees, Choices

• Employees and students? high technology addiction
• Can students blame University for technology
  addiction?
• Students entering job market expect constant
  connectivity
• Discuss addictive behavior with employer before
  accepting position

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• Health Education Coordinator Dennis Martell
  (Michigan State University)
• Placing any blame on employers for providing
  the tools to stay connected would be like saying
  you would have held (Ma Bell) liable for
  inventing the phone

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Statistics

• 5-10 American population addicted to technology
• Over 50 of technology addicts also suffer from
  other addictions (established addictive
  personality)
• emotional problems often factors in lives of
  technology addicts

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Rick Ueno

• Manager of Sheraton Chicago Hotel King of
  Crackberry
• Former technology addict
• Solved problem by giving up BlackBerry overnight
• Started program for clients suffering from
  technology addiction
• many employers realize high potential of
  technology addiction