Not Happy? We've Developed a Pill for That ...

Sir Isaac Newton is renowned for identifying three basic laws of physics. Not to take anything away from the importance of his first two laws, but today we're going to focus on his 3rd law, and how it applies to pretty much everything, especially the effects of technology.

According to Newton's 3rd law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - a yin for every yang, if you will. In the case of technology, for every instance of improved efficiency, I submit to you there is something else in the queue waiting to consume whatever benefit has been created.

As an example of efficiency, let us contemplate the simple act of sending a note and receiving a response from a client.

Twenty-five years ago, when corporate dinosaurs roamed the Earth, faxes and "mobile phones" were novelties; e-mail and the internet didn't exist, and no one except Bill gates had a computer on his or her work desk.

Back then, if you wanted to send something to your client, you had to write a note on a piece of paper and place it in your communal, chain-smoking secretary's "in-bin." The paper would migrate down to the bottom of the stack, and would be returned to you, typed, three days, or six packs of cigarettes later, whichever came first. You would then review the letter and re-submit it with changes, realizing full-well it would take another few days to get re-typed and returned to you.

After two or three edits, and a week-and-a-half's time, the letter would be placed in an envelope and dispatched to the mail box. Three days later, assuming the envelope was properly addressed and the correct amount of postage was placed on it, your letter would arrive on the desk of the intended recipient. He or she would read it (you hope), draft a response, submit it to a secretary for processing, and you would receive something a week later. All together, the entire process would take about three weeks.

Today, even the most intellectually taxing e-mail can be composed, edited, proofread and sent in about an hour, and a response will be received sometimes within moments.

This is incredibly efficient, and equally frustrating. See? Newton's 3rd law in action.

Why is this frustrating you ask? Well, before this spectacular efficiency became common place, the world had a different pace. Expectations were more reasonable. When you told someone you'd send them a proposal, the intended party expected that proposal would arrive in a matter of weeks, not hours. Now, not only do your clients expect you to turn everything around in minutes, but every one of your clients expects that level of responsiveness all at the same time.

So if we're this much more productive, we must be incredibly effective, successful and happy, right? Well, I haven't noticed that. Have you?

I mean, sure, we get a lot more done in less time, but are we more profitable? I don't think we're happier.

Technological advances have always been sold on the promise of happiness - "instead of beating the rugs outside with a stick, m'am, you could purchase this Suxdeluxe vacuum cleaner and have your carpets cleaner, quicker. You'll be much happier with all the time you'll save."

Well, ask any haus frau, and you'll learn all that "saved time" got used up doing the dishes, or waxing the floors, or beating the laundry in the creek with a rock. The fact is we've just replaced doing one task with three tasks within the same hour, and productivity is not the same as happiness.

I remember the peace and quiet we would enjoy years ago playing golf. The links was a place of desolation, surrounded by nature and friends. It was five hours of disconnection from the rest of the world, where we could focus our frustration on poor play and the simple betrayal of the 14 clubs in our bags. That tranquility has been shattered, first by pagers, then by cell phones, then by smart phones.

Today, it's routine to wait for a playing partner to compose and transmit a text or e-mail before lining up a putt. Our sanctuary has been invaded and over-taken by the convenience of technology, and the simple joy of golfing with friends has been lost forever.

I would submit to everyone that technology does not always improve our lives. To the contrary, I think it creates angst. We're all so accessible, now, that we can never be away from work. Downtime is a lost commodity.

Today, more than ever before, we are at the world's beck and call every hour of every day. Clients feel no sense of compunction for e-mailing or calling us at all hours, any day of the week, and expecting us to respond immediately, because they realize we're probably reading e-mails in the check-out line at the supermarket, or while we're waiting for the traffic light to change.

Of course, I'm taking an extreme position, here. Not all technology is bad. Certainly, Mankind's discovery of fire, and the wheel, and breast augmentation have had positive effects on society, but where are we on the Bell Curve? Perhaps we've gone beyond the point where technology makes things better, and have entered the realm where change only makes things different.

To harken back to Newtown's 3rd law, what have we gained? In recent decades, through computer advances, we've gained better access to one another, at greater speed.

What is the equal, and opposite force? Since virtually nowhere is safe from work demands, it appears the yang is our profound loss of privacy and freedom.