Increasing screen time mixed with anxiety and depression raises many concerns

In today’s hyperconnected world it has changed the realm of the workplace and workforce and it sometimes feels as though our devices are controlling us instead of the other way around. Setting limits has become a real challenge. As a large proportion of organisations across the globe still continue to work from home, it is not certain as to when things will return to normalcy. It seems though ‘remote working’ is here to stay even post the ongoing crisis, as businesses are gradually realising its benefits. However, working from home comes with its own sets of challenges for employees. As the lines between work and home are constantly blurring, some employees are left feeling drained towards the end of the day. The term ‘video conferencing fatigue’ is being used a lot these days, with people having to connect via digital communication platforms and jump from one video conference call to another.

So a question arises how can you manage your screen time and find a healthy balance? Excessive screen time can affect your sleeping patterns getting even worse, at times one feels like smacking your devices out of your hand. We have entered into a new reality of frequent online meetings and an inability to disconnect from the job, as time is passing, several organisations realized the benefits that work from home provides both for businesses as well as their employees. Many large organizations such as Facebook are considering a permanent work from home policy for their employees and Twitter having already announced this considering its work-from-home measures during the lockdown had been a success. This communication overload is resulting in employees feeling drained at the end of the day with virtual communication fatigue being one of the most talked-about topics.

Secondly, in today’s world, when we are always online it becomes difficult for employees to switch off even for a short period of time, due to the fear of missing out on something important. Secondly, disruptive technologies like IoT, AI, ML, and automation are bringing huge changes in the bandwidth consumption patterns and required network evolution.

As the global workforce are using the collaboration and productivity tools, a question arises what the new metrics would be? How are organizations going to foster agility – while enhancing empowerment, productivity and collaboration with the help of AI and Deep learning frameworks. As organizations contemplate returning to the workplace, a new set of skills is also likely to emerge for the transition. The need perhaps is – to introduce the workforce to new facets of flexibility and agility that would create a more engaged workforce – one where productivity would be the means to an end to organizational business outcomes. IoT is shaping our lives and transforming businesses at a rate of change never experienced before.

We now see a huge surge in the IoT deployments in the enterprise & automotive sector with projected growth of 5.8 billion endpoints in 2020. Data is becoming the new currency and with enterprises capturing more and more data through IoT, it is now viewed as a utility, like electricity, water and broadband; a vital resource essential to shaping, supporting & securing all life. It is the right time for the country and business to make use of the gold mine of data generated by IoT for efficiency, productivity and better citizen services. The driving force behind 4.0 is IoT as it will enable enhanced automation, data collection and analytics.