Time Management and Excessive Technology Use in the Post-pandemic Context

The practice of delaying or postponing things until the very last minute or after their due date is known as procrastination. Procrastination, according to some experts, is a type of self-regulation failure defined by illogical delays in tasks despite possible negative outcomes. According to a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago, Joseph Ferrari, who is also the author of “Still Procrastinating: The No Regret Guide to Getting It Done,” around 20% of U.S. adults are chronic procrastinators. Procrastination may have a significant influence on your job and your life, whether you’re putting off finishing a project for work or ignoring domestic tasks. The performer, the self-deprecator, the overbooker, and the novelty seeker are considered to be the four basic procrastination archetypes and you often find yourself to be one or more of those types of procrastinators.

A recent study explored how employees’ work connectivity behavior (WCB) blurs the barriers between work and personal lives, which encourages procrastination at work (PAW), using role stress theory. The significance of role stress and remote work self-efficacy (RWSE) as mediating and moderating factors, respectively, was further explored in the study. The results show that WCB positively affects PAW both directly and indirectly (through role stress); however, these effects are weaker among workers with higher (vs lower) RWSE. This study helps businesses and managers create more effective strategies for increasing employee and organizational performance while reducing the unproductive behaviors linked to excessive usage of technology. It also gives a fresh perspective on how excessive technology use for work and non-work purposes might be detrimental by examining the connections between WCB and PAW in the post-pandemic context.

Another study showed that WCB after-hours is negatively associated with job satisfaction and that perceived organizational support (POS) could moderate this association. Moreover, psychological entitlement made this link worse, and the aggravating effect was more pronounced when POS was low.

The introduction of technology in the workplace during the pandemic in the form of telehealth and telemedicine in Optometry has put extra pressure on practice managers and optometrists potentially blurring the barriers between work and personal lives as well as encouraging procrastination at work. Recent studies provided a fresh perspective on how excessive technology use for work and non-work purposes might be detrimental by examining the relationship between WCB and PAW in the post-pandemic context. Managers should refrain from meddling too much in their staff members’ personal lives. If this is unavoidable, managers should offer sufficient organizational assistance to aid staff in overcoming the difficulties WCB after-hours presents. Also, supervisors must pay special attention to highly entitled workers and take action to lower their expectations.