🤖 Technology overload is burning out the workforce. What began as a solution to ease workloads has backfired, leaving most workers convinced that too much of a good thing is harmful, according to Forbes. A new study from Lokalise reveals that this overload is actively undermining collaboration, well-being, and productivity.

The tools meant to help are causing burnout instead. When employees advocate for automation, they want solutions that help them “work smarter, not harder.” Yet one of the biggest drains on productivity is the constant switching between apps and platforms — Slack, Zoom, Google Docs, email, rinse and repeat — while juggling multiple tasks simultaneously. Rather than enabling efficiency, these tools impede decision-making and execution. Lokalise’s survey of 1k professionals found that 56% experience tool fatigue that affects their work every week.

The toll is measured in lost time, fractured focus, and declining mental health. Workers navigate endless context switching, notification bombardment, and redundant platforms daily. One in five employees loses over two hours weekly just switching between apps. Workplace collaboration has suffered too, with more than half of employees identifying fragmented tech tools as the primary obstacle.

AI promised relief but delivered disappointment. Employees hoped AI would handle mundane tasks like scheduling and email drafting. Instead, companies rushed to adopt excessive AI tools that compounded existing workloads. Much of today’s digital tool fatigue stems directly from poorly integrated AI that obstructs workflows and contributes to workslop — a new phenomenon of AI-generated busywork. This echoes MIT research showing that 95% of companies see no return on their AI pilot investments.

Digital exhaustion has reached 84% of workers in 2025, according to Asana’s Global State of AI at Work report (pdf). Meanwhile, some 77% struggle with unmanageable workloads — despite 70% using AI weekly. The pressure to adopt AI has left organizations drawing in new models and tools that don’t just overwhelm employees, but trigger wholesale rejection of the technology.

This crisis has fractured trust between employees and employers. Management perceives workers as insufficiently productive, while employees suffer from genuine digital burnout. Workers believe that leadership has failed to provide adequate AI training that could help them use these tools effectively. Nearly 80% report that their companies have made zero effort to reduce digital tool fatigue. As AI becomes inescapable, organizations must develop thoughtful implementation policies and guide employees toward using technology in ways that align with their core values and strategic objectives.

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