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 How User Psychology Makes Technology Projects Fail (continued) Previous page For the past 15 years, we have been studying how people react to technology. In the early 1980s we were pioneers in the study of "computerphobia," moving on to "technophobia" in the early 1990s and finally culminating our years of work with our latest book TechnoStress: Coping With Technology @Work @Home @Play. In this book we introduce end users who are telling us they are feeling profoundly TechnoStressed by all the technology in today's world. They are feeling pushed too fast to accept and learn new technology, sped up by technology's warp speed, and frustrated by the endless choices. They are feeling controlled by technology and are not happy about it. It's not just the hesitant and resistant folks who are feeling TechnoStressed. Even the eager adopters are feeling technology is changing so rapidly that even they cannot keep up. In TechnoStress we show all groups how to make technology a worthwhile partner in their lives. And all the publicity and interest we have received (http://www.technostress.com/tstour.htm) tells us that our message is making sense to all three groups. We are interviewed just as often by technical magazines, newspapers, radio shows, and television programs to talk about how TechnoStress impacts the techno-elite as we are interviewed by the media about how the hesitant and resistant feel. What can you, the developers and producers of technology, do to insure that your project will be used and embraced in the ways that you expect and hope? PAY ATTENTION TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HOW PEOPLE REACT TO TECHNOLOGY. Fifteen years ago we formed Byte Back Technology Consultation Services (http://www.technostress.com/tsbyteback.htm) to help businesses deal with a growing, major problem. We have worked with a variety of clients, ranging from single-person businesses to Fortune 100 corporations, helping instill an appreciation of how to best implement technology and overcome technological resistance. Over those years we have worked with technology product developers, advertisers, marketers and others to help them understand how best to reach this hesitant and resistant population. It can be done, but the first step is awareness. Understand how people react to technology and you take a major leap forward on your way to successful implementation. |
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