Tangled in tech: A systems psychodynamic analysis of work-related ICT use outside standard work hours within dual-earner couples

Abstract

Why do so many workers continue to work after hours using information and communication technology (ICT), even though this behavior induces tensions between them and their partner? To understand this paradoxical phenomenon, we conducted in-depth interviews with both partners of 22 dual-earner couples (i.e., 44 interviews), which we analyzed from a systems psychodynamic perspective. Our analysis revealed what we defined as the “Narrative of unavoidability,” a shared discourse among all couples that constructs work-related ICT-use outside work hours (WICT) as unavoidable for the job. Simply put, workers and their partners argued that WICT is just necessary to perform their jobs effectively. This narrative justified the WICT behaviors, despite tensions and evidence that WICT was actually not always unavoidable. Informed by this narrative, both partners projected responsibility for WICT from the partner engaging in this behavior onto external (f)actors as a way to manage and alleviate the tensions triggered by WICT. This psychological defense further delineated particular practices by which partners tiptoed around the seemingly unavoidable WICT. Although these defense practices helped partners to temporarily ease the WICT tensions, they simultaneously normalized WICT and reproduced the narrative of unavoidability within couples. Consequently, the tensions kept resurfacing.