Tech meant to make remote work easier burdened mothers' mental health during pandemic: study

A new study has found that some tech tools made popular during the COVID-19 pandemic because of their ability to make remote work easier actually added stress and exacerbated the mental health toll on burnt-out moms trying to manage a household while working from home.

The study, published Tuesday in scholarly journal Communication Reports, found that stress levels of working mothers "skyrocketed" in the early days of the pandemic and they tried to juggling homeschooling and household chores alongside the professional duties of their jobs.

According to researchers out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), as well as Michigan State University and the University of Kansas, this "blurred work-life balance boundaries" and resulted in women bearing the brunt of household responsibilities during the pandemic.

The findings add to numerous studies that have documented how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women and mothers, as well as their mental health.

Researchers surveyed 540 women with children in May 2020 who had worked for up to 10 weeks remotely and found that the technology they used while working remotely, such as increased video calls or communicating via direct messages, burdened their mental health more so than other groups.