The Dark Side of Digitization in Higher Education Causing Technostrsess

The education sector has faced tremendous changes in its system in the past two years. Pedagogies and teaching approaches have undergone a significant shift. The educational institutions provided necessary changes in their system to meet the dynamic needs of going online. These changes were made to serve the students and provide them with quality education. However, these sudden technological changes and updating processes have impacted mental health, causing technostress. Thus, the study aims to explore the factors affecting technostress levels among teachers and students caused due to the sudden shift from classroom teaching to online teaching. The study involved an exploratory research design and conducted in-depth interviews taken with teachers and students working in private higher education institutions. The data collected were transcribed and analyzed through word clouds, thematic analysis, and document analysis. Through analysis, two broad categories were identified - teachers' and students' concerns. The top concerns comprised – a lack of technical knowledge and support, network concerns, job insecurity, and work-life imbalance. The study has two significant implications-first, it will guide policymakers to formulate policies for helping students and teachers deal with their mental health and fears. Second, the study adds value to ongoing literature in the educational sector.

Keywords: COVID-19, Dark side, Digital invasions, Digitization, Exploratory, Higher education, In-depth interview, Online classrooms, Online lectures, Organizational change, Qualitative study, Students, Teachers, Technology, Technology acceptance, Technology usage, Techno-stress, University.