The digital revolution
Just a few decades ago none of us had access to the amount of technology available today, even basic computers were out of most people’s reach but now they fit into the palms of our hands.They have transformed the way we live, from our personal relationships to our working habits, but has the balance tipped too far; have we become slaves to the screen? Jonathan meets Katie and Stuart Brown both 26-years old and new parents to baby Willow. Katie admits to being a social networking addict and can be online for up to 12 hours a day, while husband Stuart is a keen online gamer. The couple recognise that their time spent online is having an impact on their relationship. In order to discover whether their relationship would improve without their gadgets we decided to pull the plug on their digital world.For one weekend there would be no virtual worlds, texts, tweets or up-
dates, laptops, mobile phones, games consoles and the internet.We find out how they fare after their digital detox! Katie and Stuart face up to a weekend without their gadgets Jonathan talks to leading neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield to examine what impact tec Mike has agreed that things need to change so he has asked work psychologist Professor Cary Cooper from Lancaster University to help reduce his team’s reliance on their gadgets. For one week in this office there will be no internal email and working outside of office hours will be banned. Will a week without email prove to be too much for Mike’s employees?But for growing numbers of people technol-
ogy is an integral and much welcomed part of life, with many prepared to go to great lengths to get their hands on the latest piece of kit.
In a world so caught up in social media, in the words of a great video I watched recently, it’s anything but social. We stick our noses so far into our phones we don’t bother to look up and enjoy the world around us. Crystal and I would waste 30 minutes or more sitting next to each other without talking while surfing Facebook on our phones. We spend so much time on our computers, phones, wasting hours of our days reading meaningless crap about people we don’t even talk to. Let that sink in for a
minute. Is it nice to see what friends are up to? Sure! But why not actually socialize with them using, I don’t know, your words? Call them, text them, or even better go spend time with them in person. You don’t ever really see the true side to someone on their Facebook profile. You see a image that they want you to believe is their life. On the surface you see that I have a wonderful family, a adorable kid, and a great life. But what about my personal stuggles? I them on Facebook, Ins-
Taking Over Our Lives...
Take Over The Mind
Just a few decades ago none of us had access to the amount of technology available today, even basic computers were out of most people’s reach but now they fit into the palms of our hands.They have transformed the way we live, from our personal relationships
to our working habits, but has the balance tipped too far; have we become slaves to the screen? Jonathan meets Katie and Stuart Brown both 26-years old and new parents to baby Willow. Katie admits to being a social networking addict and can be online for up
consuming our minds... to 12 hours a day, while husband Stuart is a keen online gamer. The couple recognise that their time spent online is having an impact on their relationship. In order to discover whether their relationship would improve without their gadgets we decided to pull the plug on their digital world. For one weekend there would be no virtual worlds, texts, tweets or updates, laptops, mobile phones, games consoles and the internet.We find out how they fare after their digital detox! Katie and Stuart face up to a weekend without their gadgets Jonathan talks to leading neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield to examine what impact tec Mike has agreed that things need to change so he has asked work psychologist Professor Cary Cooper from Lancaster University to help reduce his team’s reliance on their gadgets. For one week in this office there will be no internal email
and working outside of office hours will be banned. Will a week without email prove to be too much for Mike’s employees?But for growing numbers of people technology is an integral
and much welcomed part of life, with many prepared to go to-
decided to pull the plug on their digital world.For one weekend there would be no virtual worlds, texts, tweets or updates, laptops, mobile phones, games consoles and the internet.We find out how they fare after their digital detox! Katie and Stuart face up to a weekend without their gadgets Jonathan talks to leading neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield to examine what impact tec Mike has agreed that things need to change so he has asked work psychologist Professor Cary Cooper from Lancas
a generation overreliant on technology... The Dangers of Over-Reliance on Technology There are few areas of fleet management that technology hasn’t touched; communication, data mining, and reporting have benefitted from the sometimes dizzying pace of technological advances. But, how much is too much? Veteran fleet managers often reminisce upon how things were “back in the day” — before computers, the early days of roomsized mainframes, and the advent of PCs. Dealing with the avalanche of data and daily communications that fleet management requires has changed dramatically over the years. Today, technology enables fleet managers to communicate instantly with drivers,
informing them of where they are and how to get where they’re going, making reporting and data mining simple and effective, and providing more information for better decision making. In short, we are awash in technology, and the biggest problem often seems to be choosing what to use. But, can a fleet manager become too dependent on technology? Is there a down side to introducing as much technology as possible into the operation of a fleet? How Technology is Used In the early days of the profession, the tools of the trade were the telephone, paper (snail) mail, pads of paper, an adding machine, and a box of sharp pencils. Little by little, technology was introduced to
the job, with items including: ■ Simple calculators. ■ Mainframe computers. ■ Fax machines. ■ Word processors. ■ PCs. ■ Word processing and spreadsheet software applications. ■ The Internet/e-mail. ■ Smartphones. ■ GPS/telematics. ■ Social networking.
ly to drivers’ smartphones. Fleet newsletters are no longer paper; they’re posted online or distributed via e-mail. Vehicle orders aren’t completed manually on three layers of NCR paper; they’re placed online directly by a lessor or dealer. The point is that today, technology advances offer fleet managers communication tools that were unheard of as little as a decade ago.
Two characteristics of fleet management that lend the industry to the use of technology are communication and data.
Data. Operating a fleet of vehicles creates a staggering amount of data; from odometer readings to operating expenses to license/ title/tax, fleet management is a data-heavy activity.
Communication. Fleet management requires communication about a broad list of subjects with hundreds or thousands of drivers practically 24/7. Where in the past a fleet manager would have to do a mass mailing to inform drivers of a change in policy, it can now be e-mailed, posted on the company intranet site — even texted direct-
Company-provided vehicles create mounds of data. From fixed costs such as depreciation to variable costs of fuel to maintenance/repair to accidents and safety, the data pours in daily, even hourly. Since fleet managers often manage vehicles that are geographical-
can we survive?
Just a few decades ago none of us had access to the amount of technology available today, even basic computers were out of most people’s reach but now they fit into the palms of our hands.They have transformed the way we live, from our personal relationships to our working habits, but has the balance tipped too far; have we become slaves to the screen? Jonathan meets Katie and Stuart Brown both 26-years old and new parents to baby Willow. Katie admits to being a social networking addict and can be online for up to 12 hours a day, while husband Stuart is a keen online gamer. The couple recognise that their time spent online is having an impact on their relationship. In order to discover whether their relationship would improve without their gadgets we decided to pull the plug on their digital world.For one weekend there would be no virtual worlds, texts,
tweets or updates, laptops, mobile phones, games consoles and the internet. We find out how they fare after their digital detox! Katie and Stuart face up to a weekend without their gadgets Jonathan talks to leading neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield to examine what impact tec Mike has agreed that things need to change so he has asked work psychologist Professor Cary Cooper from Lancaster University to help reduce his team’s reliance on their gadgets. For one week in this office there will be no internal email and working outside of office hours will be banned. Will a week without email prove to be too much for Mike’s employees?But for growing numbers of people technology is an inte-
gral and much welcomed part of life, with many prepared to go to great lengths to get their hands