by Mallory Abreu
Lounging by the poolside last summer vacation, I thought
nothing could disturb the tranquil ambience of lapping water and the steady
heat of the sun. With Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal
Dreams in my hands and cabana music wafting over from the beachside snack
shack down the road, life felt paradisiacal. Then it came: the dissonant sound of
my father’s smartphone, buzzing on the chaise nearby. Not again . . . I thought, moaning as I got up to retrieve for him
what turned out to be ten new emails from coworkers, filling my dad in on the
latest work happenings as if he were still on the clock. Footloose and
carefree, I needed a few minutes for my summer-slump mind to realize the
obvious—that with technology at our fingertips virtually anywhere, we’re always on the clock.
I might have been offended by the interjection of my
dad’s coworkers into our family vacation, but in reality this is a development
that has become quite normal with the rise of internet accessibility. Many
workers appreciate the constant updates, which give them time to do preliminary
work before their clocked time and keep them updated in case clients spontaneously
ask to be filled in on progress. But this new caliber of work responsibility
begs the question: Are people actually more invested in their work in the
digital age, willing to put in extra personal hours to generate the best end product
possible? Or is this always-on work ethic fueled by an anxiety to relinquish
control and fear of consequences?
Perhaps it’s a mix of both. According to Karen Riley-Grant,
a marketing director who has worked with various global brands, her choice to
be always
available stems not from employer pressure but from both a passion for her
job and a fear of losing it. “I love my job,” she says. “The decision to plug
in or unplug is a personal one. My job is fast-paced and demanding. If I’m not
paying attention during the off-hours, things could go south.” With high-stakes
jobs like Riley-Grant’s, it’s hard for workers to disconnect from email and
phone calls when trying to achieve the best final outcome.
This inescapability of work in the digital age is
especially difficult for those with families. The demand from work and private
responsibilities around the clock frequently requires that the two mix. For certain
IT employees, this work demand is often strict. Robert Sample, a former
senior technical analyst for Cox Media Group, has seen rapid change in the
immediacy of work communication. “When I started in the 1998-to-1999 time
frame, a person would be on call for a week, and typically you might get one or
two contacts during off-hours,” says Sample. “Over the last few years, the
change has been toward immediate responsiveness and more active involvement.”
By the end of his time with Cox Media, Sample was issued a Blackberry that
pinged him with an email alert when a trouble ticket was started. “Our SLA
[service-level agreement] specified a response within four hours no matter
what,” he says. “That goal didn’t even consider whether it was [during] work
hours.”
As employees grow more aware of their own place within
the always-on culture, many have developed ways to cope with work expectations
while also reserving time for private life. Sample has found time to get off
the grid by simply not giving himself the option of plugging in. “I’ve started
taking a cruise every year,” he says. “You get a few miles offshore, and
cellphones don’t work. That way, you can take a vacation and not have to worry
about problems until you get back.”
Although for some jobs, being always on is necessary to
keep up with high demands and global communication, for others, it might not be
worth the sacrifices in one’s personal life. Maintaining a sense of balance and
control over the areas in life to which we devote our time is integral to both
a healthy work and private life. Although some of us like the adrenaline rush
of constantly available data and communication, taking the time to connect with
our present place in time is just as rewarding.
Did You Know?
Next time you’re quick to grab your mobile device during
a dinner date or when visiting a friend, think again! Persistent texts and
emails may drive an impulse to check your phone frequently, which can detract
from whatever present moment you’re currently engaged in. As Mark Glaser writes
for PBS’s MediaShift, “The
unspoken subtext of checking text messages in front of friends is: ‘Somewhere
else there is someone who I care about more than you. I want to know what they
have to say more than what you have to say to me now.’ . . . We devalue our
current situation, the friends and family around us, our surroundings and
setting, for something going on somewhere else.”
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