Assessing Technology-Induced Stress Among Students and Teachers

Abstract

Introduction: Technostress is a problem present at international level, represented by a series of negative effects on people's thinking, attitude and behavior, its appearance being determined using technology. Aim: The study purpose was to assess the level of technology-induced stress among students and teachers, from the period of online courses (2020 to mid of 2021), due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A study was carried out on two samples represented by students and teaching staff from universities in Cluj-Napoca, regarding technostress. An online non validated questionnaire created in Google Forms was applied, and it was randomly sent to different people from the two targeted samples on WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Gmail and Messenger platforms between October and December 2022. To determine the level of stress, the perceived stress scale PSS-14 was used. Results: One hundred people participated in the study, including both students and teachers. The questions in the questionnaire presented good consistency, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.915. The participants in the study, predominantly had digital skills (96%), and most frequently, they self-classified as experienced users (40%). Both students and teachers most frequently presented a moderate level of stress (50% and 48%, respectively). The computer was the most used device (71%), and the most used platform was Google Meet (59%). Conclusion: Possession of a higher digital skills level, presents an advantage in reducing participants technostress level.