Physical

Emotional

EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS

In 1984, psycologist Craig Brod was one of the first people to write a book about technostress, and many of his analyses are still cited in today’s literature on this topic.  In his book, Technostress – The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution, he points out that in order to understand technostress, we must understand the psychological implications of different types of adaptation, as it is our difficulties with certain types of adaptation that are the key stressors in examining and managing technostress.

Brod maintains that it is not the “simple” forms of adaptation that are problematic.  Simple adaptation means we adjust to new patterns or habits, but our sense of self or our worldview remain unchanged.  Rather, it is the form of “complex” adaptation that causes problems for some people.  With this type of adaptation, changes are rendered within ourselves, changes that alter how we think and feel about ourselves and our world (Brod, p. 20).

While not all stress is detrimental, “beyond a certain threshold … the struggle to make complex adaptations becomes too costly, and stress becomes harmful” (Brod, p. 21).  In the case of technostress for librarians, it manifests itself in a range of often-pervasive, negative emotional symptoms that commonly include the following: 

• panic / fear / anxiety in the face of yet more new technology

• guilt / frustration at not being to “do one’s job properly”

• irritability with patrons and others

• nightmares

• negative attitudes or resistance to learning more about the technology

• feelings of isolation

• indifference to some users’ computer needs

• increasingly apologetic attitude toward users

• self-deprecating thoughts or statements about one’s abilities, leading to self-esteem issues

 (Barlett, p. 226) (Brod, p.16) (Kupersmith, para. 10)