UAE: 70% residents struggle with work-life balance due to technology, shows survey

Nearly eight out of 10 people, or 79 per cent, in the UAE wish their family and friends would spend less time on their phone when they are together, according to the 2023 Life and Technology Report from communications agency duke+mir.

Additionally, a staggering 40 per cent of residents in the country think they have a problem with using their mobile phone too much, and would like to cut back.

Over 1,000 people across the Emirates were polled through YouGov for their views on a range of lifestyle and technology questions, with the aim of discovering more about the attitudes and behaviour of people in the nation.

One of the biggest findings was that 70 per cent of UAE respondents think it has become harder to separate their work and personal life because of technology since 2020. Adopting different remote technologies to enable us to work, since the onset of Covid-19, appears to have distorted the work-life balance.

Jonathan Ivan-Duke, Co-founder and Partner at duke+mir said, “People in the UAE are finding it very difficult to balance how they use technology, whether that is at work, at home or out and about with friends and family. We are prioritising using our phones [over] people sitting right in front of us. This data shows we need to develop better ways to control our use of technology and perhaps learn to enjoy face-to-face interactions more.”

Other key findings from the report included:

• UAE jobs: Most in-demand roles revealed as new vacancies increase by up to 200%