A recent study of senior managers in Ireland found that some of them have a lower quality of life than hospital patients. Many of them worked for global organisations and were so busy responding to demands that they were expected to be available 24/7.
"Technology such as Blackberries and e-mail has really allowed the urgency of demands to get the upper hand," says Prof Ciarán O'Boyle, lead researcher of the study and professor of psychology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.
The study was published to coincide with Work-Life Balance Day, aimed at encouraging companies to improve their work-life balance policies for staff.
The impact of technology on our young people was another concern raised by Mary Hanafin last week.
"A huge amount of our young people have TVs in their rooms, computers in their rooms and any amount of technology. What this is tending to do is to cut them off from their families," she said.
Michael McLoughlin of Youth Work Ireland says that while young people might spend a lot of time texting, e-mailing or on the internet, there is also a growing number of youth cafes and youth-led music events and alcohol-free venues.
"There are more spaces for young people to meet in towns and villages. That doesn't mean that they won't sit at home on their computers for a few hours. These things are not mutually exclusive," he says.
McLoughlin, like many others involved with young people, believes that technology is simply allowing people to make connections in a different cultural way. "It's not changing what people are saying to each other," he says.
He adds that while parents may be lavishing things on young people, many of them have income of their own too.