Technology is often very, very distracting, and everyone feels it. I've noticed that we've hit a point in my team where juniors don't even feel comfortable asking questions in a team channel, because they think it might add to the noise. It isn't just that they don't want to "look dumb", but they genuinely don't want to bother a senior engineer. So, paradoxically, the low-effort nature of Slack has actually created barriers to communication in this case. (I have no idea how common this is, but I suspect, at very big companies, there are similar dynamics.)
One solution I've found as a more senior engineer is to force a working session with a junior regularly. Like, we're not there to do anything specific, just work on something together. This ends up becoming a much more comfortable space for them to open up with all their questions.
Tech really isn't a direct cause of real social problems, but often just presents distractions, which can add up over time. Phones have just taken us to a point where tech is just always with us, thus, we've hit some kind of "maximum distract-ability" point. But the real solution isn't to really ban new tech, it's just to learn how to identify and avoid letting it distract us further.
One solution I've found as a more senior engineer is to force a working session with a junior regularly. Like, we're not there to do anything specific, just work on something together. This ends up becoming a much more comfortable space for them to open up with all their questions.
Tech really isn't a direct cause of real social problems, but often just presents distractions, which can add up over time. Phones have just taken us to a point where tech is just always with us, thus, we've hit some kind of "maximum distract-ability" point. But the real solution isn't to really ban new tech, it's just to learn how to identify and avoid letting it distract us further.