Technology Management Expert Paul Leonardi on Why Technology Exhausts Us and What We Can Do About It

Paul Leonardi is an expert in technology management and has developed a deep understanding for why today’s digital tools—even those that are helpful—can contribute to our growing sense of exhaustion.  Pulling from research he’s written about in his book Digital Exhaustion, he explains why this happens and as importantly, what we can do about it. 

 

Chapters:

02:00 Why Digital Exhaustion? 
Paul Leonardi discusses his 20-year career helping companies implement new technologies and his observation of the increasing dread people feel towards new tools. He highlights how the solutions to digital overload are not working, leading to widespread exhaustion. 

04:36 The Types of Digital Switching 
Paul explains three kinds of digital switching: between modalities (apps), domains of work, and arenas (work/home). He emphasizes that these switches, though seemingly innocuous, cause significant cognitive strain and mental exhaustion due to the brain’s reorientation time. 

07:20 Cumulative Exhaustion and Control 
Paul explains that digital exhaustion is a cumulative problem, building slowly over time from seemingly small attention switches.  

11:29 Expectations and Response Patterns 
Paul discusses how people tend to overestimate the urgency of messages and fall into a ‘hero symptom’ of quick responses, leading to a vicious cycle. He explains how this creates an exhausting game of chase, where individuals try to outdo each other in fast replies. 

14:35 Strategies for Managing Expectations 
Paul suggests asking for clarity on urgency and adopting a philosophy of ‘waiting’ (one hour, one day, one week) to reset response patterns. He also highlights the effectiveness of out-of-office messages and direct communication in setting realistic expectations and reducing perceived urgency. 

20:59 Measuring Digital Exhaustion 
Paul describes his ‘Digital Exhaustion’ rating, inspired by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which measures how much digital tools wear people out. He reveals a precipitous rise in digital exhaustion rates from 2002 to 2022, with major spikes in 2010 (smartphones/social media) and 2021 (pandemic). 

26:10 Unforced Errors and Self-Views 
Paul discusses ‘unforced errors’ like sleeping with phones in bed and constantly viewing oneself during video calls, which contribute to exhaustion. He explains how the ‘self-view’ on video platforms is a metaphor for the constant self-curation and inference-making we do across all online platforms, leading to mental fatigue. 

31:08 The Exhaustion of Upward Comparison 
Paul references a 1950s Stanford study on upward comparison and how social media amplifies this, leading to exhaustion from comparing oneself to others’ curated ideal lives. He discusses how AI will further exacerbate this issue by creating unrealistic avatars for comparison. 

36:07 Antidotes and Small Wins 
Paul suggests taking online content at face value without extrapolating deeper meanings to combat upward comparison and the stories we create.  

42:45 Resonance and Pushback 
Paul shares that the most pleasing feedback on his book is the distinction between a sustainable approach to digital exhaustion versus unsustainable digital detoxes. The main pushback he receives is about the ‘waiting’ strategy, with people fearing it will make them seem impolite or ghosting.