It’s hard to realise just how dependant on technology we all have become. Just imagine where we would be without our computers, our mobile phones.

Technology has taken over every sector. It has improved work efficiency immensely, and nowadays some jobs that were done by human beings in the past are being done by machines. It has allowed us to mass produce on an immense scale. It has simplified our daily lives so much.

It has also allowed us to connect to one another. We can easily communicate with people across the globe through a text, or an email within seconds. We can read news from other countries at the click of a button. The world has never been more connected than it is now… and technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

But with such speedy developments, balance must be found. Misco issued the results of a local survey this week, which found that 92% of Maltese people consider themselves dependent on technology for daily tasks.

Two particularly worrying statistics are that 42% of the respondents find that the technology at their workplace increases their stress and burnout levels, while 41% believe it makes it harder for them to achieve a work-life balance. Both these statistics show that, while the majority have not been negatively affected, a large portion of the population has been.

Think about it, our phones allow us to remain connected to people 24/7, not just through Whatsapp or phone calls, but also through our emails. While that can be seen as a positive as we can respond swiftly to work emails, it can also be seen as a negative for the same reason, as it begs the question whether people can truly cut off in their free time. On this point, resting in your free time is important to recharge, otherwise burnout could ensue.

There is also the issue of spending too much time in front of a screen. How often to we go out to restaurants and see people, even young children, just looking at their phones or ipads instead of interacting with other people? Yes technology has become an extremely important part of our lives, but if we live our lives behind screens we might just teach our children to do the same.

Look back to your own childhood and think about how important interacting with other people was?

We also need to take our work-life balance in consideration. Spending time with family and friends helps recharge our batteries so to speak.

Technological improvements also brought about social media, and new platforms keep popping up. These help us connect to the wider world, but also have certain negative effects. First of all, we have all read stories of hate speech over social media, and how people are taken to court over comments they post. This needs to hit home. There are consequences for what people post. So before doing so, take a few minutes and think it through.

The other issue with social media is its effect on our attention span. Think about just how short videos of social media have become. It’s all about instant entertainment… for five seconds, before then flipping through to the next video. But can we truly learn anything from such videos? The answer… in most cases… is no. We end up zombified just scrolling from one thing to the next as quickly as possible.

There needs to be balance. Its fine to flip through videos for a few minutes… but if you’re doing it for hours on end it might be worth questioning whether such action is improving your life or not. Would this quick fix for instant entertainment negatively affect our lives in other ways?

Technology is great, and we will continue to make advances… but we must also be aware of the negative aspects and do what we can to minimise them, while maximising the positives.