? EDITOR ’ S QUESTION //
“
THE INTRODUCTION
OF THE COMPUTER
PROMISED TO
SAVE A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT – BUT IT TURNED THE
OTHER WAY AROUND .
M ost SME employees spend more than five hours a day in front of a screen , this could include a combination of a desktop , laptop , tablet or smartphone . However , the human brain can only focus for roughly four hours a day .
The introduction of the computer promised to save a lot of time and effort – but it turned the other way around . More concerning is the fact that a lot of the younger generation mistake emailing all day as work .
Also , the way we organise work is based on the 1950s ’ organisational model – working from 9 to 5 . So , focusing is almost impossible with a steady stream of messages across all sorts of platforms with managers that are micromanaging their people .
There ’ s a lot of evidence that we are at the verge of a tsunami of mental health issues for
knowledge workers . To address and prevent this , owners of SMEs must invest in digital fitness for their personnel .
Because no one ever learned how to deal with larger quantities of information and where to store , retrieve and communicate it . Somehow , we invested a lot of money in IT , but all the money went to the T , and we forgot about the I .
People have to learn new skills and insights that help them clear their mind , focusing on effectiveness rather than efficiency . Email is the famous canary in the coalmine . Solving this , together with other aspects of digital hygiene is far more important than focusing on digital skills .
At least 10 weeks per year are wasted on lack of digital fitness , as we found in our research . Investing in it will bring more mental space and also more progress .
MARTIJN ASLANDER , TECH PHILOSOPHER , GUEST SPEAKER AND THOUGHT LEADER
22 intelligent
. tech
Intelligent SME . tech