
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 28, 1990                   TAG: 9005290215
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TECHNOSTRESS

CHARLIE CHAPLIN never heard the term "technostress," but he would have understood it. The comedian's motion picture "Modern Times" satirized the assembly-line mentality of the early 20th century and its dehumanizing effect on factory workers.

Fast-forward a couple of generations from Charlie. People still labor today on assembly lines, but an increasing number are employed to receive and process information - a task usually involving computers. During his work breaks in "Modern Times," Chaplin continued the jerky movements he made while tightening thousands of bolts a day. People who sit at computers for hours may also find they're adopting attitudes picked up at the terminals.

Craig Brod, a Silicon Valley psychotherapist who wrote the 1984 book "Technostress," says people who work with high technology not only show such signs of stress as headaches; they also internalize data-processing methods. Computers are fast, accurate and impersonal. People who use them, Brod asserts, develop a sense of accelerated time, a desire for perfection, and difficulty in relating lovingly to others.

Brod notes that when life for these people falls short of perfect, they react with "a lot of anger and hostility." In a similar situation, the computer just asks for more information. At least, some difference remains between human and machine.

by CNB