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We have become dependent on technology for almost everything in the past few decades. It’s in our hands, our cars, our homes, classrooms, the street, and everywhere! It is scarce not to come into contact with some technology in today’s world.
Technology is, making tools and developing techniques that make life easier. It can be anything from “caveman” stone tools to complex genetic engineering and information technology.
According to Wikipedia, technology comes from a word of Greek origin; “techne”, which means art or craft—so, in a way, we could say it is “the way things are made”. It was initially used to describe the applied arts. In the present day, though, it encompasses more than just applied arts.
Again, we use technology in every aspect of our lives; we use it for improved agriculture, construction, communication, healthcare, and so much more. Long before these advancements, people had to wait weeks, and possibly months, to receive letters from abroad. Then came faxes, then email, then instant messaging. Now we’re videoconferencing in real-time, and we can talk to people in just about any part of the world using a handheld device that can also wake you up in the morning! (Your smartphone)
This is just one example of how far we have come with technology; we don’t even have time to talk about driverless cars, flying cars, shuttling to space, and robotic surgeries; the list is so long! All in less than 50 years!
Let’s discuss how technology affects productivity. Does it hurt or help? I will look closely at the positive impact of technology and put it side by side with the negative impact. At the end of this, we can determine whether it’s helpful for productivity.
Technology helps us save time. Back in the day, transportation was either by horse, Camel, Wagon, ship, or a wheel of some kind. A journey from one town to the next depending on distance took a day or maybe days if the towns were far apart enough. We went on to automobiles, then trains, then airplanes, and now we have super-fast jets. These days, you can get from New York to London within 7hrs via a non-stop flight. You can go from London to Paris within a few hours, have your business meeting and be back on the same day. The advancement in transport technology has made this possible.
There is no waste of time, you can accomplish a lot in different geographical locations, something that wouldn’t have been possible without technology.
You need to ask someone on the other side of the world something, instead of sending snail mail or a telegram that could take months, you can just call them on the phone or email them, you can text them, make a Zoom call, the options are so many! Saves us a lot of time and hassle.
Instead of manual harvesting in Agriculture, there are machines and tools and various gadgets that make the process a lot faster and easier. You can now use the farm hands you would have used for harvesting, planting, etc, to operate the machines. As a farmer, you save time and resources.
Project management has never been easier. There are so many tools, apps, and devices that enable easy collaboration – even remotely. You could have staff members in New York collaborating efficiently with staff members in India, Australia, and Brazil to get work done. No plane tickets or travel is required.
Teams can meet from far away using videoconferencing and work on shared documents simultaneously using cloud-based file-sharing services like Google Drive.
Companies can use workplace management systems like Basecamp, Roofhub, or Workday to collaborate on projects. Customer-relationship platforms like Salesforce and Pipedrive automate lead and sales processes cutting down human error and time spent manually generating them.
How human resource managers do their jobs has changed because of technology. It makes it easier to find, screen, and hire new employees. Recruiters leverage the use of technology to post job openings, which helps them get to a wider pool of candidates. LinkedIn, Upwork, and other platforms have made it easier for companies to find suitable applicants worldwide. Time tracking tools like Upwork’s time tracker, Time Doctor, Toggl, and Clockify monitor time spent on work and how work is getting done.
The Smartphone was made to make us more efficient and make our lives easier – You can instantly send and receive messages, emails, calls, transactions, and a ton of other stuff.The downside of this amazing invention is that, because it also entertains us, it can be quite addictive and a serious distraction. For example; it’s good to be reachable anywhere and everywhere, however, if you start texting while driving, you have an accident waiting to happen.
If you have your phone on at work, every time it pings you are tempted to pick it up, unless you have formed a disciplined habit of ignoring your phone until you’re on a break or until work is over, you are likely to pick up the phone and see what just came in. This can take your attention away from your work or anything else that you are doing.
If you have your phone on at work, every time it pings you are tempted to pick it up, unless you have formed a disciplined habit of ignoring your phone until you’re on a break or until work is over, you are likely to pick up the phone and see what just came in. This can take your attention away from your work or anything else that you are doing.
This results from distraction from the task at hand. When your phone or TV distracts you from a task, it can take up to 20 minutes to regain your attention on the task. This means that if you were distracted 5 times in a day, you lost a total of about 100 minutes, which is more than one and a half hours, and some are even more distracted than that in a day.
We have about 8 hours to work in a typical day. Losing this amount of time to these devices is not only unfair but unproductive. By the way, who should pay for the lost time, you or your employer?
In a way, tech has made us lazier than our predecessors. But the question is, does it hinder productivity? As a GTDer and a passionate advocate for Technology, I can’t tell you how many times it has made things simple and faster and helped me achieve goals that were thought impossible.
The catch is that it can become a hindrance if you don’t see the value it adds to your life. You could allow things like games, social media, texting all the time, etc., to keep you from doing your work. Instead, you can set out your goals, including your playtime, with the help of technology and work through them, and then indulge. So it comes down to how you use it. Use it wisely, for with great power comes great responsibility.
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We have become dependent on technology for almost everything in the past few decades. It’s in our hands, our cars, our homes, classrooms, the street, and everywhere! It is scarce not to come into contact with some technology in today’s world.
Technology is, making tools and developing techniques that make life easier. It can be anything from “caveman” stone tools to complex genetic engineering and information technology.
According to Wikipedia, technology comes from a word of Greek origin; “techne”, which means art or craft—so, in a way, we could say it is “the way things are made”. It was initially used to describe the applied arts. In the present day, though, it encompasses more than just applied arts.
Again, we use technology in every aspect of our lives; we use it for improved agriculture, construction, communication, healthcare, and so much more. Long before these advancements, people had to wait weeks, and possibly months, to receive letters from abroad. Then came faxes, then email, then instant messaging. Now we’re videoconferencing in real-time, and we can talk to people in just about any part of the world using a handheld device that can also wake you up in the morning! (Your smartphone)
This is just one example of how far we have come with technology; we don’t even have time to talk about driverless cars, flying cars, shuttling to space, and robotic surgeries; the list is so long! All in less than 50 years!
Let’s discuss how technology affects productivity. Does it hurt or help? I will look closely at the positive impact of technology and put it side by side with the negative impact. At the end of this, we can determine whether it’s helpful for productivity.
Technology helps us save time. Back in the day, transportation was either by horse, Camel, Wagon, ship, or a wheel of some kind. A journey from one town to the next depending on distance took a day or maybe days if the towns were far apart enough. We went on to automobiles, then trains, then airplanes, and now we have super-fast jets. These days, you can get from New York to London within 7hrs via a non-stop flight. You can go from London to Paris within a few hours, have your business meeting and be back on the same day. The advancement in transport technology has made this possible.
There is no waste of time, you can accomplish a lot in different geographical locations, something that wouldn’t have been possible without technology.
You need to ask someone on the other side of the world something, instead of sending snail mail or a telegram that could take months, you can just call them on the phone or email them, you can text them, make a Zoom call, the options are so many! Saves us a lot of time and hassle.
Instead of manual harvesting in Agriculture, there are machines and tools and various gadgets that make the process a lot faster and easier. You can now use the farm hands you would have used for harvesting, planting, etc, to operate the machines. As a farmer, you save time and resources.
Project management has never been easier. There are so many tools, apps, and devices that enable easy collaboration – even remotely. You could have staff members in New York collaborating efficiently with staff members in India, Australia, and Brazil to get work done. No plane tickets or travel is required.
Teams can meet from far away using videoconferencing and work on shared documents simultaneously using cloud-based file-sharing services like Google Drive.
Companies can use workplace management systems like Basecamp, Roofhub, or Workday to collaborate on projects. Customer-relationship platforms like Salesforce and Pipedrive automate lead and sales processes cutting down human error and time spent manually generating them.
How human resource managers do their jobs has changed because of technology. It makes it easier to find, screen, and hire new employees. Recruiters leverage the use of technology to post job openings, which helps them get to a wider pool of candidates. LinkedIn, Upwork, and other platforms have made it easier for companies to find suitable applicants worldwide. Time tracking tools like Upwork’s time tracker, Time Doctor, Toggl, and Clockify monitor time spent on work and how work is getting done.
The Smartphone was made to make us more efficient and make our lives easier – You can instantly send and receive messages, emails, calls, transactions, and a ton of other stuff.The downside of this amazing invention is that, because it also entertains us, it can be quite addictive and a serious distraction. For example; it’s good to be reachable anywhere and everywhere, however, if you start texting while driving, you have an accident waiting to happen.
If you have your phone on at work, every time it pings you are tempted to pick it up, unless you have formed a disciplined habit of ignoring your phone until you’re on a break or until work is over, you are likely to pick up the phone and see what just came in. This can take your attention away from your work or anything else that you are doing.
If you have your phone on at work, every time it pings you are tempted to pick it up, unless you have formed a disciplined habit of ignoring your phone until you’re on a break or until work is over, you are likely to pick up the phone and see what just came in. This can take your attention away from your work or anything else that you are doing.
This results from distraction from the task at hand. When your phone or TV distracts you from a task, it can take up to 20 minutes to regain your attention on the task. This means that if you were distracted 5 times in a day, you lost a total of about 100 minutes, which is more than one and a half hours, and some are even more distracted than that in a day.
We have about 8 hours to work in a typical day. Losing this amount of time to these devices is not only unfair but unproductive. By the way, who should pay for the lost time, you or your employer?
In a way, tech has made us lazier than our predecessors. But the question is, does it hinder productivity? As a GTDer and a passionate advocate for Technology, I can’t tell you how many times it has made things simple and faster and helped me achieve goals that were thought impossible.
The catch is that it can become a hindrance if you don’t see the value it adds to your life. You could allow things like games, social media, texting all the time, etc., to keep you from doing your work. Instead, you can set out your goals, including your playtime, with the help of technology and work through them, and then indulge. So it comes down to how you use it. Use it wisely, for with great power comes great responsibility.