Posted on 05/26/2013 3:16:47 PM PDT by upchuck
It [Memorial Day] would seem an ideal time to take a break, but our ability to unplug and relax is under assault. A three-day weekend? We can barely get through three waking hours without working, new research shows. The average smartphone user checks his or her device 150 times per day, or about once every six minutes. Meanwhile, government data from 2011 says 35 percent of us work on weekends, and those who do average five hours of labor, often without compensation—or even a thank you. The other 65 percent were probably too busy to answer surveyors' questions...
"It's like an arms race … everything is an emergency," said Tanya Schevitz, spokeswoman for Reboot, an organization trying help people unplug more often. "We have created an expectation in society that people will respond immediately to everything with no delay. It's unhealthy, and it's unproductive, and we can't keep going on like this."
There's a long list of horribles associated with our new, always-on-digital lives: You are dumber. You are more stressed. You are losing sleep, and more depressed...
"Many of us have an exaggerated sense of our own importance," she said, speaking on the eve Memorial Day weekend. "I can tell you that come Tuesday morning, the Earth will still be revolving, whether you have checked your email or not..."
"I think that a three-day weekend provides a unique opportunity for people to unplug and decompress because there is a tradition of people going away. So the expectation by the boss that you will be reachable at a moment's notice is likely to be less," she said. "I do think there's hope. When people are given achievable steps, they start seeing that there's a difference."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I hated phones even before cellphones were invented by Al Gore.
I remember working for a major corporation in IT Systems support. There was an accountant two floors above us who hated phones. Whenever he needed help, and being in systems support, i.e. systems programmers, we didn’t really owe him support, applications programmers and operations folks did, but he would come down to see us, chat, tell us dirty jokes, and get help. Guess who was our group’s most loyal advocate in the corporate upper management.
Now I am completely mobile and can work just as effectively from an airport in LA - or on the beach - as I can from my Boston area office.
To me, that's freedom.
I agree. My company provided me with a laptop with a VPN connection and a smart phone that gives me the very same access and capability as I have at the office. While there have been a few times, like recently when we migrated our PR/HRIS database and had issues with our time clocks not working that I was pretty much on call 24-7, or during holidays or when I’m on vacation but when payroll still has to be processed or when I am away at a conference, it is great not to be tied to being physically present in the office 24-7 or for times when I would have had to have to taken PTO and have been totally disconnected from work, like when I had my car in the shop or had to be at home to wait for a delivery or for a repairman or time when I was not feeling well but well enough to work from home, times when I could work from home and be just as productive and not have to be charged with a day off – if not even more productive for that matter.
A lot of my job doesn’t require face to face communication or my physical presence. Heck, sometimes I get emails from the person sitting right across from me. I am sometimes even more productive working from home thanks to modern technology – I don’t have to get dressed and put on makeup or spend time commuting and or sitting in traffic, I can roll out of bed, brew some coffee and be logged in at 6:00 AM while still in my PJ’s where on a normal day after commuting I’m lucky to get to the office by 8:30 or 9:00. And I’m a lot more prone to work later in the day if I can do it from home and also not having to listen to the office gossip and water cooler talk that is usually just a distraction.
I like the freedom to be able to do my job but not have to go to the office to do so, to be able to check in when I need to or be contacted when I’m needed but having the ability to address or resolve issues without having to drop everything and drive to the office.
Freedom, doctor (and that other guy)? You’re talking about working, and working everywhere, and not just in the coalmine! No, thanks.
I haven't "worked", per se, since I sold my business in 1999 and retired. I know, that's a lifetime ago :).
But in the years since I've been involved in a lot of volunteer technology projects. And, yes, from what I see technology has added to the workload.
Several FReepers have mentioned this on this thread. See replies 61, 8, and 26. Interesting, and sad, phenomenon.
For those who like their jobs - it’s not work!
To be blunt: that's a stupid position to take; even Jesus used fiction. [They're called parables, but it's still a type of fiction.]
In the cult film “Warm Bodies”, the zombie yearns to be human again, and while he narrates about the “good old days when people actually could communicate with each other”, the film shows a 10 second flashback, where there are lots of people, all texting and ignoring those around them.
Bet a lot of people missed that snarky part.
I’d say it’s exaggerated, but even here in the Philippines, you see this with the schoolkids in McDonalds...
Pretty much same here. I have not had a real phone conversation in many years, other than “pick up some milk and bananas on your way home” and have never received a personal text yet. But I do like having extended access to the Internet for news type stuff. No Facebook “friends” or anything like that.
Me too. The only use I have for a cellphone is to call AAA if my car breaks down. I have never understood those who just yak as they drive along.
I kind of tend toward avoiding fiction as well but every once in a while you run into a fictional tome that teaches you more about the real world than non-fiction would. Those along with Jesus’ parables are good reasons to not avoid it altogether.
The foolishness of avoiding fiction leads to the belief that non-fiction is what tells us the truth. Well, how are those 5 year old Ann Coulter books holding up? Re-read any of the recently? A film director once told me that if you, as a film director seek the truth, film fiction (drama), otherwise if you seek fiction (lies) film documentaries!
Bob needs to take a muscle relaxant. What business is it of his how people spend their time? Yes, many peeps spend a lot of time staring at their iPhones, and I don’t care for incessant posting of videos and pictures, especially those meant to demean others. What someone wears to Walmart doesnt warrant being plastered on the internet. Still, the technology exists and Bob is assuming moral authority over those who use the technology he gets paid writing about.
I'm taking this as a huge hint you are a woman or at least hoping so.
Should no one ever publish a sociological observation in case it might offend someone (like you)?
Friends try to get me to text, but it’s not going to happen. Just the sight of someone thumbing those keys bugs me, LOL.
No.
Never seen the flick...but I can see how this could be a flashback from the future.
I worry about the younger generations and their communication skills.
Before anyone says it, yes we are communicating thru the internet. But I’ll hazard to guess we could all carry on a face to face conversation.
Same here I have my little cheap Tracfone for emergency not to chit chat all day. I am not going to spend a large amount of money for a “smart” phone. Forget, how did people survived before the smartphone. I remember when we didn’t even have 911 and I remember our rotary phone, yet we did ok.
I have loved my job as well.
But how do you get any down time? Family time? Time to just rest mentally?
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