I love BlackBerries and iPhones. They’re wonderful tools for staying in touch and getting things done. They’re also very, very dangerous because they can commandeer your personal time.
This became a big problem for me.
For a long time, I allowed my BlackBerry to creep into my personal time which, for me, is the evenings when I hang out with my wife and kids. I was always quite good about not responding to emails after I had left my office, but whenever I saw that flashing red “You’ve got mail!” light on my BlackBerry, I would open it up and read it.
The trouble was, if I read an email at 7:00pm, it would be on my mind for hours. This prevented me from detaching from work after long day, and being fully mentally present with my wife and kids.
Even if I didn’t physically reply to the email until the next day, I found myself beginning to craft the reply in my mind right after reading the email!
After letting this problem go on for too long, one day I just decided to take the “drastic” step of cancelling the data plan on my phone, meaning I stopped paying for the service that delivered the emails to the phone itself.
I suppose if I were really brave I would have gotten rid of it altogether. However, I find having the device itself a tremendous convenience in my personal life. My wife and I phone or text one another over details about who’s picking up the kids, etcetera.
The point here is that I eliminated the features that were hindering my personal life, and I kept those that were helping it.
I’m not suggesting you cancel your data plan or trash your cell phone. What I am saying is, if you’re feeling “too connected,” take a good hard look at your use of technology like BlackBerries and iPhones and ask yourself this one question:
Is this technology supporting or upsetting MY work-life balance? Then, take steps to make the technology work for you, not against you.
Pete Savage is co-founder of TheWealthy Freelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle. (Coming from Penguin, 2010). (And no, that is not him in the picture up there holding his daughter while checking email. That has never, umm, ahhhh, ever, happened. Not to my knowledge. Maybe.) Pete’s on Twitter at Twitter.com/petesavage
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I completely agree. I have purposely NOT upgraded my cell plan to a Blackberry for just this reason. Quite frankly I don’t really want people to be able to reach me when I am not working. A long time ago I discovered that being able to separate work and my personal life would be critical to my sanity.
I discovered the first couple of years as I was launching the business that I wasn’t really “present” when I left work. The problem was compounded by the fact that I worked in a home office so I didn’t really have that commute from work to home to disengage.
I discovered that I had to be disciplined and simply make my office for work and walk away at the “end of the day” so to speak. I don’t answer voice mail or email over weekends or after hours. I don’t have a Blackberry and I can say that my business has grown fine over the last few years. I have not lost business nor has the world collapsed because of my choices, but what has happened is my quality of life and personal life have improved dramatically.
People that have the sad condition of being an employee (did I say that out loud) get to walk away at the end of the day, why shouldn’t freelancers? In the infamous words of Nike… “Just do it”.
I had to laugh when I saw the picture at the top of your post – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve struggled to enter the password on my Blackberry with one hand while holding the baby with the other. It is really hard for me to avoid checking e-mails in the evening, and I don’t think I could give up my data plan. But I have been making an effort to at least shut it down between the end of my work day and my daughter’s bedtime. One step at a time, right?
Try working from home – it is even more difficult when you’re still “in the office” in the evening.
I think we will begin to see more and more conversation on this topic. A friend and I were discussing it last night at dinner. I don’t have a Blackberry but I have a similar problem with the computer. Even though I don’t “work” in the evenings, I find myself gravitating to the computer to check email, update LinkedIn and other sites, read blogs, etc. And I do this during times when, previously, I would have read a book, taken a walk, played a game with my daughter or made a phone call to a friend. I’m now making a conscious effort to “unplug” from the time I stop working around 5 to around 9 pm. One small step!
Thanks for the post.
Great article. I agree with everyone else here. Family time, and time away from working just to take a break is important.
I think making sure to take this time, makes everyone happier and more complete, and therefore also more effective while at work.
(Have you seen the movie “Family Man”?) : )
I love your attitude! I’m glad to see it because I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person in the world who feels this way.
Years ago, my father, a physician, made it an absolute priority NOT to accept calls from patients when he wasn’t offcially “on call.” (Patients or hospital staff who did call our home were referred to the clinic’s answering service, the physician who was on call, etc.) He always said “no one is indispensable” meaning the world is not going to come to a crashing halt if you “unplug” for a while, also because no matter how hard you work, there is always someone else who can do what you do. So why kill yourself trying to impress others at your own expense?
It’s a lesson that has resonated more and more with me as technology has allowed us to become acessible 24/7. I was even “fired” from a 9 to 5 job once, in part because I refused to accept phone calls when I was away on a five-day vacation. (The office promised to call only in an “emergency,” but I still said no.) Another time, a freelance client demanded to know how to reach me when I was on vacation. I told them they couldn’t, which they found unacceptable. After much haggling, I told them how to reach me, but warned if they called they would have to pay a PREMUIM price for the contact. (For the record, these did not involve critical, sensitive assignments. If they did, I probably would not be taking vacation. But even then, I would have to think long and hard about allowing them to contact me.)
Two points.
1) Part of the process of taking a vacation or “going home for the day” is to not just physically, but mentally disconnect from work. If you’re worried about people calling you, or constantly checking your phone for messages, you’re not really on vacation.
2) Technology has made organizations very lazy. In the past when employees took vacation, someone else on staff was briefed about the employee’s projects and prepped to handle any calls or problems while the person was away. This actually strengthened the organization since it made employees “interchangable,” which is how a well-functioning organization should be. Today, employees jealously protect their fiefdoms and would rather take calls on vacation, at home for the evening, etc. than risk other people knowing what they’re doing and honing in on their turf, or risk the boss’s displeasure by “logging out” completely at the end of day or while on vacation.
No one is indispensable. So why sweat it? I strive to provide the best service I can for my clients when actively at work for them. But I refuse to worry about access. If the strength of my work and our relationship is not sufficent on its own merit, I doubt 24-hour access will make much difference to them. But it makes a huge difference to me and my well-being. So I am stonehard about the distinction between work and leisure hours. And if that costs me, so be it. It’s necessary for my sanity and I trust that reasonable people, my preferred client base, will understand this.