Not long ago, I sat at my desk staring at the little red dots scattered across my screen — notifications, unread messages, unfinished tasks, a dozen digital nudges demanding attention. I felt that familiar tightening in my chest, the quiet whisper: You’re behind again. Behind who? Behind what? I hadn’t stopped working; in fact, I’d been working most of the weekend. Yet somehow my computer, my email, and the constellation of apps around me had already sprinted several steps ahead. This is the hidden cost of living in a world built on machine time. Our digital tools run at a pace humans cannot — and were never meant to. Over the past decade, I’ve watched the rise of technostress seep into the lives of my colleagues, my students, and my own family. It’s taken me years to name what we’re all feeling: the sense of falling short, of never being able to catch up, of always being a little bit behind. And the evidence is catching up too.

Computers operate on a logic of infinite capacity — unlimited storage, instant response, 24/7 uptime — while humans don’t. Yet the more seamlessly our tools function, the more we begin to internalize their pace as the new normal. Email becomes a conveyor belt rather than a letter; notifications shift from messages to micro-demands; inboxes regenerate faster than we can clear them.

Studies now consistently connect digital overload to stress and burnout. A 2021 systematic review found that technostress predicts emotional exhaustion, cynicism, reduced job satisfaction, and poorer mental health, with the most potent drivers being the ones we experience daily: techno-overload, techno-invasion, and techno-uncertainty. A 2024 longitudinal study further showed that high technostress predicts burnout months later, even after accounting for baseline strain — clear evidence that technology itself can function as a chronic stressor.

We tend to downplay the health impact of the digital world — after all, it’s “just email” — but our bodies don’t distinguish between digital and non-digital stressors. When work spills into evenings and weekends through email or messaging, the brain remains on........

© Psychology Today