Student Opinion Column: Technology Usage Diminishes Productivity
Launch the media gallery 1 playerHave you ever caught yourself looking something up on your phone, but then get side tracked and find yourself playing a game or scrolling social media? I can say this has definitely happened to me before.
I have come to believe that if you are excessively using technology, it will affect how productive you are. Technology can be a major distraction, even when you are just trying to get the simplest tasks done.
For instance, if you are trying to fold the laundry, it should really only take about 10 minuets, but say you are watching TV while folding your laundry. Now this could take about 30 minutes longer than it is supposed to take. You could have been doing your homework or doing the dishes or any other task in those 30 minutes you wasted.
Technology breaks your focus from what you are doing. People find themselves procrastinating because they are spending too much time on their electronics and not enough time on what they should be doing.
This can be at home, school or work. Research shows employees today can spend excessive time on non-work-related activities online. Employees may be working on a project, but then they hear their phone buzz, so they look what it could be, and then they are scrolling through social media for the next hour and now they are rushing to get their project turned in on time. While multitasking, we struggle to pay attention, recall information or complete one task at a time. People use multitasking to save time, but in reality, multitasking ultimately decreases anyone’s productivity. People tend to multitask when they are trying to get things done. For example, if you are trying to finish all of your homework, but you really want to finish your favorite show on Netflix, so you watch your favorite show and do your homework at the same time, it is taking you longer to do your homework because you are more focused and interested on your show.
Technology usage is the biggest reason for poor productivity. It is very easy to get distracted when you are on your phone or another electronic device. The need to constantly look at your phone or to continuously check text messages and respond to every beep or ring leads to bad productivity. Every time you hear a beep or ring on your phone, you will check to see what it is and you are most likely to stay on your phone and check something else or stay on your phone and respond to that notification you got. If you forgot your phone or shut it off, you find yourself being more productive and getting a lot more stuff done then you normally would.
In all, technology is a major distraction when you are trying to complete your daily tasks. You find yourself most likely being unproductive when you are on your electronic devices, multitasking, and when you are distracted. Technology breaks your focus so it takes double the time to complete your jobs. Going on your devices excessively is unhealthy and not good for you. You will be inactive and find yourself sitting on the couch a lot. So think twice the next time you spend a long time on social media or think you can multitask with technology. You would probably feel much better without it!