Technostress & Burnout
Poster presented at the 2025 PaLA Conference, Erie, PA. Click the poster to download.
The Price of Productivity: Burnout and technostress among academic library workers
New technology is often associated with increased productivity. However, when technology is centered over that of human-interaction, it can create unintentional consequences that impact library workers’ effectiveness and feelings of burnout. This study seeks to understand these effects by examining the intersection of burnout, feelings about technology, and the impact it all has on academic library workers’ sense of effectiveness. Using a scale to measure technostress, including ranked and open-ended responses, fifty-four surveys were collected from academic library workers. Findings demonstrate that academic libraries are technocented environments and are influenced by technology related stressors, such as constant connectivity, disruption, and role overload. Even though academic library workers describe improved productivity, technology overuse negatively effects library workers’ wellbeing. Academic leaders seeking to foster well-being must account for how new and existing technologies mediate library workers’ ability to sustain relational focus with patrons and colleagues. This consideration is essential when adopting technologies aimed at improving technology effectiveness. This study offers academic library leadership considerations for creating human-centered approaches when using and adapting new technology.
Technostress and the Influence on Instructional Technology Use
The constant connection, disruption, distraction, and need to learn new technology, or technostress, can make faculty feel overwhelmed, tired, or disengaged, impacting their ability to teach. As institutions continue to spend resources on growing technology portfolios, we wanted to know how the feeling of technostress impacted faculty’s use of instructional technology. We surveyed instructors and found their use of instructional technology was partially influenced by technostress. Overall, we find that most instructors had a low-level of technostress and will learn how to use technology if they perceive its usefulness. Implications show instructors learn new technologies when they believe it will make their work easier. Institutions should continually work to build a technology-rich culture to support their instructors.
Poster presented at the 2025 EDUCAUSE Conference in Nashville, TN. Click on the poster to download.
Overwhelmed, overworked, and overly tired: Instructional Technology Influence on Faculty Burnout
Faculty are feeling burned out. They are tired, overworked, and overwhelmed, which impacts their teaching, and is unlikely to be solved by more instructional technology. How instructional technology influences feelings of burnout is important to study, not only for the wellbeing of instructors, but also for critical decision making about training and technology adoption. We conducted interviews with 12 full-time faculty members to examine their experiences using instructional technology and the influence it has with feelings of burnout. Using Job Demands-Resource Theory as a framework, we find faculty often lack the time and energy needed to engage with new instructional technologies. Faculty described burnout as overwhelming exhaustion, disengagement, and depression-like symptoms, often caused by administrative workloads, student demands, and teaching responsibilities. Data show that while instructional technology could be a resource, the process of adopting new tools frequently led to feelings of being overwhelmed. The study emphasizes the importance of institutional support in the form of time, training, and resources to aid technology adoption. Additionally, personal recovery strategies play a critical role in managing burnout. These findings offer insights for higher education institutions, suggesting better support mechanisms to help faculty integrate technology while addressing the causes of burnout.