iDisconnect: Where’s the Digital Boundary?
by Chris Vigneau, MBA Candidate
The Dilemma: Let’s be blunt; people are addicted to their phones, and it’s not a good thing. Consider these terms: iDisorder, workplace telepressure, no-mophobia, mobile addict, digital burnout, technology boundaries, workaholism (Hubbard, 2014). In the new era of always being on, we’ve hit the point of diminishing returns on productivity. The tool is no longer constructive and, sadly, there’s no end in sight.
I think it’s only a matter of time until iPhones come with a surgeon general’s warning. I expect it to read something like this: Warning: enclosed connectivity product may cause anxiety and create artificial boundaries between you and everything in life that really matters. Side effects may include an extreme sense of irony.
Last night I was cooking dinner for my fiancée and listening to her recap her day. Focus was high, priorities were set, all was right in the world. Then, the buzz, a text message from work:
Boss to me: Sent your data to my boss on that issue that’s sort of important (but not really) critical, she doesn’t understand it.
Me to me: Really? What does that even mean? What if I answer? What if I don’t? I don’t want to seem disengaged, but then again…I don’t want to seem like I’m on call 24/7 either. Great, now I have anxiety. Even worse, my fiancée knows that I am distracted now and not listening. Oh no, the food is burning! Argh!
A Common Problem: Does the situation above sound and feel familiar? As an “early millennial” born in 1982, I have mixed feelings. When I started my career in 2004, we didn’t have laptops or smart phones. When we left work, we left work, plain and simple. The more time that goes by, the more I feel like those were “the good old days” of productivity. Progress was still made. Career trajectories held promise. There was hope.
Then everyone started texting and sending emails late, really late, sometimes after midnight, almost as a badge of commitment (Thomas, 2015). All too vivid are the memories of logging on to my desktop at work in the morning to see the cry for help that came out after midnight. It was always the same, everyone saw the timestamp and gasped with reactions like “man…that guy really cares…” and “poor guy, he’s really got it tough these days.” Unfortunately, those emails aren’t the exception anymore; the heroics are done. Now, this is the rule. We’ve succumb to the siren’s call of the buzz, and we’re trapped. You want to be a player? Plug in, bottom line (Schwabel, 2014).
Digital Takeover: The cost to meet this expectation is steep. It’s probably not a good thing that there’s an alarming rate of people becoming addicted to their mobile devices at the same time that we’re all expected to be plugged into work communication 24/7. Fact: the number of mobile addicts increased from 79 million in 2013 to 176 million in 2014. Do the math, that’s a 123% increase in one year (Hubbard, 2014).We’re faced with the new reality of having to choose when to be on and when to be off. And, like any addict, when put into the situation, we’re rendering ourselves incapable of making that choice.
When someone is officially deemed to be addicted to something, they’re supposed to get treatment for it and not have it anymore. Continued use is destructive to themselves and those around them. See also, gambling addicts, drug addicts, etc. How is being a mobile addict different? Have you ever thought of the compulsion to “reply ASAP” to be the source of your personal downfall? Did you ever think that answering that text message right now could be a contributing factor to your own demise? Why aren’t we seeing this as a problem? Our phones have become Chicken Little characters in our lives, and yes, the sky is always falling.
Draw the Line, Rip the Bandage: As hard as it sounds, we need to push back and regain control of ourselves. A few simple practices can be liberating and help. Try one or two of the following:
- Set a shut off time for every night, and don’t make it 10 minutes before bedtime
- Make a rule: no phones in the bedroom
- Delete your most addictive app
- Leave your phone at your desk when you go to an important meeting
- Go for a walk or run an errand without your device
We’ve tricked ourselves into believing that unless we’re armed with our devices 24/7, we’re not doing our jobs and we’re slacking. Thus, it’s easy to justify putting everyone and everything else on the back burner to immediate responsiveness. Unless it’s a real emergency, think about the consequences the next time you hit send outside of the office.