1 in 3 Aussie workers suffer from "tech rage"

The results of a survey of 400 office workers in Sydney and Adelaide has been picked up by many of the major Aussie newspapers (such as the Australian) that claims 1 in 3 find that modern technology is an increasing cause of major stress or "tech rage". But while its an interesting survey, do you trust a research company that doesn't appear to have a Website? O'Square Holes who are you and where are you?

However, there is probably a grain of truth in the survey results. The Australian Financial Review recently reported (Not without my BlackBerry, 5 August 2005) that always on, always connected wireless PDAs like the Blackberry are causing friction in the workplace and making it harder for people to deal with worklife balance. One user commented that "They do become a bit addictive . . . it's hard for people to give them up."

However, none of this is really new or surprising. I reported on these risks at confernces just last year and even wrote a short article where I concluded:

"Wireless is a disruptive technology with implications for business and society. Business owners and managers need to properly consider the risks and implementation problems associated with wireless tools. For society we need to discuss the impact of a wireless world where people are always on and always connected to their jobs. For some, like small business owners where the line between work and life is often blurred, the benefits could be positive but for other workers this lack of definition may cause problems." (Sorry - This short article isn't currently available online, so please e-mail me directly if you would like a copy)

So the question is, when are organisations and managers in the workplace going to start doing something about addressing this problem?

Tags: always on, always connected, tech rage, work life balance