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Too much chatter
 What do we abhor most in our work environment? It's talkative colleagues, according to a Robert Walters global survey on workplace distraction. Forty per cent of people around the world are most irritated by ceaseless chatter followed by Internet surfing (28 per cent). Guilty? Do remember to keep the gabbing to lunchtime and after-office hours. So, you think it’s okay because you’re talking about work? The other people in your office don't think so.
And too many emails
If you have been looking at your email every 15 minutes, you’re not alone. More than a third of workers, or 34 per cent of about 200 workers surveyed for a study in Britain, admitted checking their email with such regularity. The study, by a group of researchers led by Ms Karen Renaud, a computer scientist from Glasgow University, and psychologist Judith Ramsay of Paisley University, concluded email was a bothersome part of our working lives.
About 28 per cent of the workers surveyed admitted that they were “driven” to check their mails so regularly because of the pressure to respond immediately. “Our survey indicates the astonishing extent to which email is embedded in our day-to-day lives,” the Daily Telegraph quoted the researchers as stating. At present, there seems to be no solution to this problem.
Bad posture
Some of the reasons for headaches, aching wrists and neck pain – common medical problems today – relate to the way we sit at our computer stations. A little knowledge of ergonomics can go a long way in minimising such problems, say researchers at Cornell University.
They have put together practical tips and a guide on how to set up an ergonomically-sound work station. (Details are at http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html.) One tip: “The monitor should be at a comfortable horizontal distance for viewing, which usually is around an arm's length (sit back in your chair and raise your arm and your fingers should touch the screen.”
Strain on the eye
All of us who use computers at work already know this, but now it’s confirmed – staring at the computer screen for hours is very bad for your eyes. Some of the symptoms identified by optometrists as being vision problems related to regular and long hours of computer use, are eyestrain, watery eyes, dry eyes and blurred or double vision.
Any of these can negatively impact our wellbeing, and as a result, affect our productivity. At regular intervals, it is good to rest the eye, says the Health Promotion Board. Computer vision syndrome or CVS, can also be minimised with the use of anti-glare computer screens. Sunlight streaming through windows and reflected on to the computer screen from various angles is also bad, so do move your monitor to a more eye-friendly position. |
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