Unpaid, Invisible, Unmanageable: CEO & Founder Dr. Levitch on the Technostress Strain of Digital Labor in the AI Economy

Dr. Rachel Levitch to Host Groundbreaking Talk on the Hidden Costs of Unpaid Digital Labor in the AI Economy The growing reliance on AI, automated hiring systems, and algorithms has not only made traditional career paths more exclusionary but has placed immense psychological strain on workers. The event explores technostress, automation, and visibility as emerging economic pressures on the modern workforce

In today’s hyper-connected, AI-driven world, unpaid digital labor has become a hidden yet essential requirement for employability. Tasks that were once voluntary — maintaining an online persona, producing content, or engaging with audiences — have quietly shifted from optional to mandatory¹. As a result, workers are expected to perform more in the digital space than ever before, often without compensation, recognition, or time for rest. This shift isn’t just a minor inconvenience, but a systemic change in the way work is structured, affecting millions of workers globally. Dr. Rachel Levitch, PhD, CRISC, CMQE, cybersecurity strategist, technologist, and former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), will present a timely and provocative talk on the emotional, economic, and psychological toll of unpaid digital labor in an AI-driven workforce. The event will take place at 410 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 and tickets can be purchased at https://chareseddaandcharlesbouley.com/upaid-digital-labor.html, bringing together a conversation at the intersection of labor, automation, and identity.

As automation continues to accelerate, AI is increasingly taking over traditional jobs, creating new opportunities while simultaneously eroding the old ones. By 2026, the landscape of work will be drastically different: AI and automated systems will have automated even more routine tasks, and employability will be increasingly tied to one’s digital visibility. This is no longer an abstract concept — it’s already here. The demand to stay “visible” online — constantly producing content, updating social media profiles, and tracking engagement — has become a prerequisite for survival in the job market. To be seen is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. Failing to perform these tasks, even if unpaid, can jeopardize employment opportunities, leading to what many are calling a “new digital precariat”.

This situation has created a new form of invisible labor, where people are asked to perform essential tasks in the digital realm without formal recognition or compensation. While AI takes over mundane tasks like scheduling content or screening applications, the burden of creating, managing, and maintaining a digital persona falls on the shoulders of workers. Ironically, as AI optimizes the tasks traditionally done by humans, it has pushed the responsibility of visibility and emotional labor onto individuals, further entrenching the need for unpaid work (Levitch, 2025).

But visibility alone doesn’t guarantee success. Even though workers are pushed to stay digitally visible, the shift to algorithmic-driven hiring tools and automated systems has narrowed traditional career pathways, making them harder to access for many. AI-driven hiring systems and Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) filter applications based on specific keywords, effectively excluding workers with nontraditional skill sets or those who acquire their expertise outside of formal educational or corporate structures. This new reality is narrowing the pipeline for many workers, forcing them into gig work or freelancing not necessarily by choice but out of necessity (Frey & Osborne, 2013).

The Growing Economic Divide: How the Shift to Digital Labor Shapes the Global Economy

The rise of unpaid digital labor is part of a larger economic shift reshaping the global workforce. The gig economy, which once seemed like a temporary solution to economic instability, is rapidly becoming the new normal for millions. Traditional full-time employment is no longer the primary model; instead, the economy is increasingly driven by temporary, freelance, or self-employed work. These shifts are deeply tied to AI-driven changes in hiring practices and the new standards of visibility, branding, and content creation that have become essential for survival in the labor market.

As more companies rely on AI for recruitment, the process of hiring has become less human and more mechanized, with automated systems filtering candidates based on their digital footprint rather than their actual skills or experience. This has created a situation where many workers are excluded from traditional career opportunities because their experiences — gained through nontraditional education paths, self-taught skills, or freelance work — are not recognized by AI-driven hiring tools². As a result, individuals who can’t keep up with the demand for constant digital visibility or whose resumes don’t match the algorithms’ expectations are pushed to the margins of the economy, often falling into gig work, freelancing, or entrepreneurial pursuits that may not be financially sustainable.

This trend highlights the disconnect between the labor people perform and the recognition it receives. Automation might have removed certain jobs, but it has also changed what counts as valid, compensated labor. For many, the growing reliance on digital visibility as a currency has created an environment where the work itself is undervalued and its emotional and economic toll largely unrecognized³. In this new world, the gig economy is often a euphemism for job insecurity, and unpaid digital labor becomes the invisible backbone of the economy.

The Hidden Costs: Understanding Technostress and Its Impact on Worker Well-being

At the heart of this shift lies a growing phenomenon called technostress — the emotional and psychological strain caused by our constant interaction with new technologies. Defined as “a disease of adaptation caused by an inability to cope with new computer technologies healthily”⁴, technostress is driven by the relentless demands of digital labor: the expectation to remain always “on,” to be constantly producing content, and to manage personal and professional online presences without respite. This can lead to anxiety, burnout, and even depression, as workers struggle to meet the ever-increasing demands of a digital-first world.

In this environment, the emotional toll of maintaining digital visibility is often ignored. The rise of digital labor has shifted the burden of visibility onto individuals, demanding creativity and emotional labor with little compensation or institutional support. The impact is not just financial, but psychological, as workers feel compelled to produce more, faster, and with greater precision, all while battling the uncertainty of their digital footprint and the ongoing threat of algorithmic exclusion.

As AI automates more aspects of work, the need for emotional resilience and mental health support in the workplace becomes even more critical. Workers are not just adapting to new technologies; they are living with the stress of digital precarity — a phenomenon that has far-reaching implications for overall well-being, productivity, and job satisfaction⁵.

A Call to Action: Reimagining Work in the Digital Age

The urgent need to recognize and address technostress, algorithmic exclusion, and the hidden costs of digital labor is more pressing than ever. As AI continues to shape the economy, it’s crucial that we find ways to ensure workers’ digital labor is recognized and compensated. The future of work is not just about surviving automation; it’s about creating a more equitable, sustainable, and humane digital economy that doesn’t exploit workers for their emotional, creative, and intellectual contributions without fair compensation.

As founding partner of Mangosteen Privacy/GDPR Engineer Co. | A Charles Edda & Charles Bouley Corporation, Dr. Levitch has spent years developing tools to close compliance gaps around unstructured data and digital risk. Her technical leadership — including extensive work in cloud-native security, SIEM, EDR, SOAR integration, and open-source orchestration — informs a growing concern: the rising demands placed on individuals to remain visible, relevant, and constantly engaged in digital spaces, often without compensation or protection.

Grounded in recent scholarship and social analysis, the talk draws from Dr. Levitch’s research and recent writing, including references to the 2013 Oxford study by Frey and Osborne³, which warned that nearly half of U.S. jobs were at risk of automation. Levitch also cites the now-viral LinkedIn article From Volunteer Work to Invisible Labor: The Rise of Unpaid Digital Work1, calling attention to how tasks like content creation, thought leadership, and online engagement have shifted from optional to quietly mandatory — and yet remain unpaid, invisible, and psychologically draining.

“This is not just a labor issue — it’s a wellbeing crisis,” said Dr. Rachel Levitch. “We’ve entered an era where constant digital output is expected but never compensated. If we don’t name this as work, we can’t protect the people doing it.” The event will also unpack the concept of technostress, a term coined by Craig Brod⁴, which Levitch repositions as a key framework for understanding today’s digital exhaustion. The talk will integrate models like the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) Model⁶ to demonstrate how unpaid digital labor intersects with burnout, mental health, and algorithmic exclusion

Tickets and Registration
 This in-person event:
 410 Tenth Avenue
 New York, NY 10001
 Date: March 8, 2026
 Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST
 Tickets: https://charleseddaandcharlesbouley.com/unpaid-digital-labor.html
 Media inquiries: info@charleseddaandcharlesbouley.com

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References

1. Turkle, S. (2011). “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.” Basic Books.

• Levitch, R. (2025). “From Volunteer Work to Invisible Labor: The Rise of Unpaid Digital Work.” [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/volunteer-work-invisible-labor-rise-unpaid-digital-rachel-levitch-skpge]

• Frey, C. and Osborne, M. (2013) “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?” Retrieved from [https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf]

• Brod, C. “Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution.” Addison-Wesley; Reading, MA, USA: 1984. [https://www.tecnostress.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/The-Human-Cost-of-the-Computer-Revolution_Abstract.pdf]

• Wadhwa, S.N., Bhardwaj, G., Srivastava, A.P., et al. “AI-driven job insecurity and work performance: unveiling the mediating role of psychological well-being”. Int. J. Inf. Technol. 17, 3883–3894 (2025). [https://doi.org/10.1007/s41870-025-02]

• Schaufeli, W.B and Taris, T. W. (2005). “A Critical Review of the Job Demands-Resources Model: Implications for Improving Work and Health” [https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/411.pdf]

References

1. Turkle, S. (2011). “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.” Basic Books.

• Levitch R. (2025). “From Volunteer Work to Invisible Labor: The Rise of Unpaid Digital Work.” [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/volunteer-work-invisible-labor-rise-unpaid-digital-rachel-levitch-skpge]

• Frey C. and Osborne M. (2013) “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?” Retrieved from [https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf]

• Brod C. “Technostress: The Human Cost of the Computer Revolution.” Addison-Wesley; Reading, MA, USA: 1984. [https://www.tecnostress.it/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/The-Human-Cost-of-the-Computer-Revolution_Abstract.pdf]

• Wadhwa, S.N., Bhardwaj, G., Srivastava, A.P., et al. “AI-driven job insecurity and work performance: unveiling the mediating role of psychological well-being”. Int. J. Inf. Technol. 17, 3883–3894 (2025). [https://doi.org/10.1007/s41870-025-02]

• Schaufeli, W.B and Taris, T. W. (2005). “A Critical Review of the Job Demands-Resources Model: Implications for Improving Work and Health” [https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/411.pdf]