1 in 3 of us are overwhelmed by New Technology

The University of Cambridge recently published reports which state that 1 in 3 people feel overwhelmed by new technology. The study lasted for 8 months and examined 1, 269 people from different countries, ages and backgrounds.

Results show that almost 20% of participants use communications technology for over 7 hours a day and as much as 42% of people surveyed said they had reduced the amount of time they spend on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Over 1 third (34%) of participants in the 25-34 age group said that they felt overwhelmed by the amount of communications technology available to them. Figures rose to 38% for those under 18. Children aged between 10 and 14 said that they felt too much communications technology could be upsetting. The result was similar for 25-34 year olds.

On the whole, findings show that all age groups prefer communicating face to face. This was true for 65% of adults and 64% of children. People who felt overwhelmed by new technology were more likely to be unhappy in other areas of life and those who felt in control of the technology generally felt much happier.

Professor John Clarkson, director of the Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge said: "Communications technology is changing the way that society interacts and now, with the explosion in personal communications devices, wifi and increasing broadband speeds, is a great time to start charting this change.”

“There is much discussion about whether communications technology is affecting us for the better or worse. The research has shown that communications technology is seen by most as a positive tool but there are examples where people are not managing usage as well as they could be. it is not necessarily the amount but the way in which it is used.”

Source: 1 third of us are ‘overwhelmed by technology’