technoangst

technoangst

English

Etymology

techno- +‎ angst

Noun

technoangst (uncountable)

1. Emotional distress caused by modern technology, especially computers.
   • 1984, Gary B. Palmer, "Whiplash", InfoWorld, 31 December 1984, page 8:

     Communications with the dealer diminish as resignation sets in, but periods of relative quietude are punctuated with recurrent, painful spasms of technoangst. Intense desire to acquire what merchandisers so callously refer to as "product" alternates with hot flashes of guilt and shame over squandering $3,000 on a digital toy, really little more than an electronic game.

   • 1987, Howard Means, "The Quiet Revolutionary", The Washingtonian, August 1987, page 147:

     While it probably means nothing concrete, it's also intriguing that in the 1984 annual report—in his wonderfully overblown, often perilously meaningless prose—Ripley presaged the technoangst that many at the institution seem to experience contemplating the IBM on Adams's credenza: […]

   • 1997, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Technobrat: Culture in a Cybernetic Classroom, HarperCollins (1997), →ISBN, page 199:

     Newer and better models must replace the present ones. That is the logic of technology; that is its political economy. Between technofuturism and technoangst is just one short, fatal step.

Synonyms

• technostress