Humans weren’t meant to do this sort of thing

Tuesday 17th July

It is only a fraction of a second in evolutionary terms since Human Beings stopped being hunter-gatherers and started to become settled farmers.  And for a few thousand years most of us led a maybe hard, but basically stress-free life.  It is only in the last couple of hundred years that things have got bad, and of course the rate of acceleration is increasing so fast now, that we are hurtling into a more and more uncertain future.  The rate of technological development means that we are having to constantly adapt.  Even ten years ago no-one had heard of Facebook or Twitter, which will surely soon be consigned to the rubbish bin themselves.  I can remember in the late nineties, people talking about e-mail, and yet I am sure even the most enthusiastic of those early converts had no idea how central to the working life of us all it would soon become.   And now hardly anyone is not involved with sitting in front of a screen for at least part of their day.  But all of this technology comes at a price, and stress is one of the methods of payment.  As we become more and more reliant on this ‘wonderful’ new technology, so we panic when it doesn’t work.  Colleagues e-mail me desperate that they have left their mobile phone at home – the end of the world is looming as they realise that for a few hours they are un-contactable. ‘Enjoy the moment’ I reply, but sad to report I am one of the first to stress out if my own laptop starts to play up, or refuses to start, or won’t connect to the internet. And I realise more and more that human beings were just not designed to be doing this.  Of course, we cannot just opt out either, or not until retirement and a sedentary lifestyle is well established.  At some point I suspect we will all give in, throw in the mouse and hang up our modem.  But till then – be prepared for many stressful days ahead.