More technology, less productivity
Sunday, February 26th, 2006
Technology designed to help people work faster and be more productive is actually slowing them down, according to an article 
on C|News.
New technological advances often claim to help us get more done in less time. Who could forget the promise of “the paperless office”?
But research shows the reverse is true:
Expectations that technology would save time and money largely haven’t been borne out in the workplace, said Ronald Downey, professor of psychology who specializes in industrial organization at Kansas State University. “It just increases the expectations that people have for your production,” Downey said.
In 1994, four-fifths of workers claimed to finish at least half their tasks for the day. Last year only fifty percent said they had achieved half their daily work.
On average workers received 46 emails per day.
The survey of 1,000 workers also found that last year employees spent an average of 16 hours a week in front of a computer, compared to 9.5 a decade ago.
Tags: email, not getting things done, Productivity, technology, work
The Copy Chief at Wired News Tony Long has written 