Women and Our Relationship to Technology

Huffington Post and Real Simple polled over 3000 women i 2013 and found that technology played an essential part in women’s lives but also revealed a complex relationship that we as women have with our tech devices, namely our smartphones.

Here are some of the findings:

“76% of respondents say they check their smartphones at least once an hour. Of those, almost half sneak a peek every 15 minutes (or even more frequently).” – Guilty.

“64% say no one ever complained.” – At first, I found this hard to believe but then realize that even though I get a horrible feeling inside when my friends or colleagues are looking down at their smartphones while we’re in conversation, I’ve only once said anything about it to them.

I think we have to be more vocal when someone we’re with is essentially ignoring us – perhaps unwittingly – and engrossed in their devices.

“47% keep their smartphones on their nightstands so they can check them first thing in the morning. Five percent sleep with their phones in their beds.” – Guilty.

“80% have considered taking themselves off Facebook, Twitter, or another social-media platform at some point, and 41 percent of those have gone through with it. Why? Too much drama or I didn’t care about hearing other people’s random thoughts.” – Personally, I’ve pared back my usage bit by bit, and it has nothing to do with drama or other people but rather my own need to find time to be productive and creative and present in my own life.

Read more about this poll on RealSimple.com.

I’ve mentioned the #Unplug Movement here before.

And I’ve pinpointed “unplugging” or “disconnecting to reconnect” as a Tech Trend for 2014.

I’m offering consultations on Popexpert.com about Unplugging.

What are your feelings about technology? What are you technology habits? 

This post originally appeared on AlizaSherman.com.