Technology Addiction a Growing Problem

Summer vacation used to mean getting away from the office, but these days, cell phones and laptops are more likely to be packed for a trip down the shore than bathing suits and Scrabble boards.

Staying connected through technology can be positive, but for some, it goes beyond convenience and becomes an addiction, says Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management in the Rutgers University School of Business Camden.

For these people, she says, being in a place where they're required to shut off their cell phones or don't have access to email can cause discomfort or actual withdrawal symptoms. "When the idea of being disconnected is causing true anxiety, that's a problem."

In a recent study titled "Addiction to Technology and Work: An Imprudent Use of Human Resources," Porter and co-author Nada Kakabadse, a faculty member at the Northampton Business School in the United Kingdom, look at the problems workaholism and addiction to technology can cause for individuals and organizations.

While workaholics can wreak havoc on a company by distorting interpersonal relationships and creating crisis situations, many managers are still hesitant to criticize those employees who seem to work twice as hard as everyone else. But when it comes to technology addiction, Porter says, the two feed each other because so much of work is dependent on technology, she says. As a result, paying attention to technology addictions or technophilia "can be a way for companies to ease into talking about -- and dealing with -- workaholism."

Popular wisdom might see workaholism as something that benefits the organization as a whole at the expense of the workaholic and those close to him, but Porter, who has studied the area for about 12 years, argues that simply isn't the case. "The benefit is not there; it's a surface-level mirage. Either the benefit is an illusion or there is a detriment offsetting any of the positives," says the Rutgers-Camden scholar.

Such detriments can include alienating co-workers and especially subordinates, as most workaholics are not good delegators and make unreasonable demands, or worse, constantly change the standards for the assignment or withhold information that makes it difficult for others to do their jobs. One executive told Porter that he spent years "putting out fires" at work, until he realized that most of the daily crises he solved were of his own making.

Work has become increasingly central to personal identity, but an interpretation of self that is over-reliant on work may be too narrowly defined, Porter says, noting that "Whereas people formerly derived fulfillment from family, friends and religion, work, for many, has become the primary source for relating to others."

Working productively, but still managing to maintain outside interests and relationships is a sign of a healthy employee, she says. "Managers and those in HR need to look beyond the surface appearance of working everywhere and all the time, and focus on the longer-term investment in people who personally invest in their jobs but also maintain other life interests."

Porter, a resident of Haddonfield, teaches undergraduate and MBA courses in organizational management at the Rutgers University School of Business at Camden. In 2003, she was named a recipient of the Provost's Teaching Excellence Award, a top honor for exemplary educators at the Camden campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

She attended the Wichita State University, where she earned her bachelor's (1979) and MBA (1982) degrees. She received her doctoral degree from The Ohio State University in 1992.

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Author: Press Release-Rutgers University