Monday, November 10, 2008

TECHNOPHOBIA

TECHNOPHOBIA- A DISEASE IN DISGUISE


The incumbent technological advancement has created a phenomenal shift in the way human lives has been transformed. From robotic science to computers use of modern day electronic gadgets has lifted the way one looks at life. The word technophobia basically means fear of technology or technological devices. The way professional world has developed, use of modern day technologies has closely linked human race to devices making one closer to virtual world and lifting the soul from practical domains.
For many of us life, without computers is unimaginable! The first thing that almost 90% of the knowledge workforce does when it gets to work is turn on the computer and check the email! Those are the lucky ones! Many others, live with pagers, beepers, and wireless devices 24-hours a day. If life without computers were unimaginable, life without microchips would be, simply speaking, miserable. Our remote car keys help us to open car doors from a distance; our microwaves are programmed to pop the perfect popcorn; music is no longer just turning on the radio; telephone manuals read like instructions for a nuclear reactor; VCRs and DVD players are humiliating experiences as highly intelligent individuals learn how to play a tape or a DVD; the list is endless.
In such a confused situation human lives are transformed into phases seldom undiscovered. In such trespassing phases technophobia penetrates the very basis of survival. Recent studies have pinpointed on the use of excessive gadgetries on the result of technophobia which culminates into a fearsome disease paralyzing the existence of human physiology. Corporate world has witnessed such phenomenon in a larger scale where technophobia has penetrated the human resource cycle.
Take for example, the printing press, the automobile, flying, highways, and medicine. Progress in these fields gave men and women to adjust their mindsets to a new and evolving world. In other words, growth and change in these domains has, to a large extent, gone through what we call the human life cycle: birth, infancy, adolescence, and maturity. In technology, however, the change for many individuals has been from birth to maturity. And just when they think they have a grasp on it, the world of technology handles another baby to them, only that this one has four legs and six eyes! Hence it is no surprise that individuals are overwhelmed with technology. An early example of technophobia in fiction and popular culture is Mary shelley’s frankenstein. Such disturbances have been closely studied by MNCs who have given technophobia a major concern for the health of its workforce. In Microsoft test of two studies of communication: an ethnographic study of communication primarily in homes, cars, and public places, and a survey of communication in a large corporation were performed. A clear pattern emerged. To a greater degree than expected in the ethnographic study, people were familiar with a broad range of communication tools. Awareness and a lack of anxiety was the norm even for tools that a person rarely or had not yet used. As a result, people frequently shifted to the tool that was most appropriate for a task at hand. The resulting behaviors conflict with popular press images and have implications for the designers of communication tools.
Question arises to why should one care about technophobia?
Technophobia is a serious disease in disguise penetrating rapidly in the world of gadgets. it not only creates psychological imbalances but shifts human nature from reality .Psychological studies have pointed on the inflictions of technophobia more on people adapting slow to change than fast adaptations of technology. Higher usage of technology has inversely affected its friendliness where fear of adaptation to latest innovations have paralyzed human advancement.
What are some symptoms of technophobia?
1) Fear of computers and related technologies
2) Resistance to automating processes
3) Unwillingness to change from one system to another or one software to another.
4) Highly critical of any technology changes or implementations
5) Passive resistance to new technology initiatives
6) Unwilling to attend training classes
7) Slow to learn new technologies
8) Providing excuses for not attending training sessions
9) Relentlessly arguing the lack of need for technologies
10) Pleading "the old way is the best way!"
11) Convincing colleagues that "I have made it this far without technology. Why now?"
Technophobia has been also studied positively in education sectors where latest usage of technology has paralyzed the motion of educational deliveries. In such a scenario a Harvard study has revealed a (+) mode of educational awareness to the extent of beta variation to be an ultimatum in releasing shock waves of brain.
Last but not the least technophobia is a disease in disguise, it is not shameful, it rocks the corporate enigma more. Proper awareness programmes , brown bag lunches, seminars on technophobia, sustained support to technophobic may shift the imbalance to a more phylogenic module of technology.

1 comment:

Sujit On web said...

Some tech-free celebs are recovering tech addicts. Tyra Banks told New York Times Magazine that her BlackBerry habit caused her physical pain. She has since gone low-tech and jots her thoughts in a notebook.
Technophobia, of course, extends far beyond cell phones.
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