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Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 183

Repetitive stress injury
(RSI) is the leading
occupational disease today.
The single largest cause of
RSI is computer keyboard
work.

© Stephen Barnes/Alamy

RSI is not the only occupational illness computers cause. Back and neck pain,
leg stress, and foot pain also result from poor ergonomic designs of workstations.
Computer vision syndrome (CVS) refers to any eyestrain condition related to
display screen use in desktop computers, laptops, e-readers, smartphones, and
handheld video games. CVS affects about 90 percent of people who spend three
hours or more per day at a computer (Beck, 2010). Its symptoms, which are usu-
ally temporary, include headaches, blurred vision, and dry and irritated eyes.
The newest computer-related malady is technostress, which is stress
induced by computer use. Its symptoms include aggravation, hostility toward
humans, impatience, and fatigue. According to experts, humans working
continuously with computers come to expect other humans and human insti-
tutions to behave like computers, providing instant responses, attentiveness,
and an absence of emotion. Technostress is thought to be related to high levels
of job turnover in the computer industry, high levels of early retirement from
computer-intense occupations, and elevated levels of drug and alcohol abuse.
The incidence of technostress is not known but is thought to be in the mil-
lions and growing in the United States. Computer-related jobs now top the
list of stressful occupations based on health statistics in several industrialized
countries.
In addition to these maladies, computer technology may be harming our
cognitive functions or at least changing how we think and solve problems.
Although the Internet has made it much easier for people to access, create, and
use information, some experts believe that it is also preventing people from
focusing and thinking clearly.
The computer has become a part of our lives—personally as well as socially,
culturally, and politically. It is unlikely that the issues and our choices will
become easier as information technology continues to transform our world.
The growth of the Internet and the information economy suggests that all the
ethical and social issues we have described will be heightened further as we
move into the first digital century.

LEARNING TRACK MODULE

The following Learning Track provides content relevant to topics covered in
this chapter.

1. Developing a Corporate Code of Ethics for Information Systems

MIS_13_Ch_04_Global.indd 183 1/18/2013 10:27:43 AM