Technophobia is a fear of new technology. As a business owner, being a technophobe can be extremely harmful. This post lists a few signs that could determine whether you are technophobe, as well explaining how it can harm your business and how you can overcome this fear.
Signs you could be a technophobe
- You hate upgrading your smartphone because you dislike having to get used to new features. You would never consider switching to a different smartphone brand.
- You are unwilling to try new social media platforms or shy away from social media completely.
- People buy you new gadgets but you are reluctant to use them. They stay in the packaging until someone persuades them to try them.
- You barely understand any of the following acronyms: SEO, PPC, VPN, VoIP, AI, VR, AR
- You don’t really understand what the cloud is.
- The idea of building your own website – even using a platform like WordPress – sounds insane to you
- People are always pointing out useful features and shortcuts on your applications and devices, and they are surprised that you didn’t know about them before.
How does technophobia affect business?
Being a technophobe could be harmful to your business as it could make you willing to try out new technology that could be beneficial to your business. You may also not be making full use of the technology that you have.
This can ultimately lead to competitors outpacing you in terms of efficiency and reputability – and you could fail to gain new customers because of this. Employees may also get frustrated having to use old tech and this could affect their morale. Meanwhile, you may find yourself struggling to keep on top of admin by not taking advantage of tech shortcuts, causing unnecessary stress on yourself.
How to overcome technophobia
In order to beat technophobia, you must challenge yourself to learn more about tech. The bulk of technophobia comes from a lack of knowledge. By using the right resources, you can fill out these knowledge gaps. A few great ways to improve your knowledge of tech include:
- Hiring IT consultants to talk you through various types of tech
- Attending seminars and workshops or hiring your own speakers from sites like Executive Speakers to talk on tech topics
- Watching YouTube videos including explainer videos, software demos and walkthroughs.
- Reading books and blog posts on tech subjects you don’t understand (look out for beginner’s guides and check out websites like Hubspot that put things in layman’s terms).
- Always reading instructions when getting new tech and looking up extra resources online if necessary
- Learning from the people around you – including tech-savvy employees
On top of being willing to learn, you need to be patient enough to try out new tech and willing to embrace change. This involves dedicating time to learning how to use new software and hardware, and not clinging onto old tech out of comfort when you know there are more efficient options.
When choosing new tech solutions, always do your research in order to find user-friendly options. These can help you to ease into new tech. If you have technophobic employees and this tech is going to be used by the rest of your team, it could also make it easier to train employees how to use this tech.
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