Too Much Tech Diminishes Work Relationships?

Lansdowne writes "The Seattle Times has an article today on Tim Sanders, a Yahoo exec who claims too much technology may be bad for your health. According to Sanders, small groups of engineers who went to completely electronic communication in their workgroups became 'very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people.'"

uhh

[TapTapTheChisler]

'very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people.' in other words, nothing changed

Everything I need to know...

[PakProtector]

...I learned from Maxis' The Sims. If your or your Sim's social bar drops too low, bad things happen.

I dont need friends

[Anonymous Coward]

My computer talks to me...
Isn't that right sweetie?

Yeah, but....

[telstar]

machines are going to take over the world ... so those anti-social rejects are just laying the groundwork for their future girlfriends...

Attitude

[Godeke]

I have noticed that as I have done most of my work remote this last year (remote desktop technologies instead of onsite visits, IM and e-mail instead of phone discussions) that I have become a surly bugger.

It has started to carry into my regular life: people are interruptions not whatever they used to be...

And here I am posting to slash.

I would like

[Timesprout]

to explain why this article is complete nonsense but I'm too depressed, feel the world is against me and I really dont feel like talking to anyone. Plus I just got a new laptop to play with.

My 2 pennies

[truthsearch]

lonely - certainly, since they get less face-to-face contact
depressed - maybe, especially if they're feeling lonely
negative - Windows desktops will do that to you, they've done it to me ;)
anti-social - it helps us be lazy and stay within our small team
brilliant - makes them brilliant? I doubt that. You're either brilliant or you're not. Modes of communication can't change that.

Wrong conclusion!

[CrowScape]

very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people

Proof that contact with the masses dumbs you down. ^_^

It's not true

[Sfing_ter]

at all, damn users can't leave well enough alone, or me. Stop bothering me, if i want to talk to you i'll remove your email address from my spam filter.

Bushism required

[segment]

Dubya: "Those techies aren't lonely, they just have no one to talk to, and speak with."

Well, I'll tell you what

[Anonymous Coward]

if it makes be brilliant, I don't mind also being depressed and antisocial.

Re:Attitude

[Coelacanth]

It has started to carry into my regular life: people are interruptions not whatever they used to be...

...obstacles, just asking to be killed and fed to rabid pigs?

Maybe your attitude is improving.

brilliant!

[GromBulk]

'very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people.'"
Wow, I can become brilliant.

Odd

[Piquan]

I work from home. My coworker just IM'd me this link. You think they're trying to tell me something?

Re:Limits...

[rainwalker]

This quote from the article makes me wonder whether we're reading too much into it. This is someone who replaced face to face communication with his employees. That's not a problem with technology: that's him being irrespsonsible.

FOOL!! Don't you realize that it is impossible for him to be responsible for his own actions?! No one can exert any control over their own lives! We all dance to the music played by forces beyond our control! Have you already forgotten that fast food makes people fat by forcing them to overeat? Personal responsibility is a myth perpetuated by those who want to limit your personal litigation, er, freedom!

Re:uhh

[red floyd]

No, they're lonely, depressed, negative because they had to deal with marketing!

This sounds great!

[Daetrin]

small groups of engineers who went to completely electronic communication in their workgroups became 'very lonely, depressed, negative, anti-social, brilliant people.'

I'm already lonely, depressed, negative, and anti-social, but now i can become brilliant too! Sign me up!

Re:I dont need friends

[Murmer]

Please go stand by the stairs, so I can protect you from the terrible secret of space.

Re:Near-Miss

[Penguinshit]

"They are dictated by the world of probablility and there can never be any certainty."

The one certainty is this: The CEO's secretary is going to be the biggest pain in your ass, support-wise.

Re:/. in a nutshell

[Anonymous Coward]

since when are slashdot users brilliant?

What?

[brj]

'[blah], [blah], [blah], [blah], brilliant people.' Sounds good to me.