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Constantly Connected: Are You Addicted?

How often do you allow yourself to go unwired is the question of the day at Jeff Pulver's blog. Interesting question indeed.

I just spent the weekend unwired, and it was great. It's something I rarely ever do, if only because the email pile-up is too awful to contemplate on a regular basis. And most people I know are rarely, if ever, totally out of the online loop. While I was off-line, friends actually called when "want to see a movie?" or "what are you doing tomorrow?" emails went unanswered. By Sunday I felt really relaxed, and my always sore hands were happier.

That gnawing disease...
Even while determinedly avoiding the computer, I had the gnawing feeling - an addict's craving, truth be told - that I was missing something important by not checking the comments on my blog, and the goings on of my Twitter buds and my favorite blogs. I held my ground, until last night, and I plan to stay unwired more often this summer.

Frankly, while I think the work I do is important for my clients, the world won't end and IT systems won't fall if I don't respond to an email for a couple of hours, so I don't have a Blackberry and don't want one. But an awful lot of other people apparently see their work as holding the globe together.

One caveat about disconnecting: it's a joke among bloggers that if you want to start a problem for a corporation you write the post on the weekend because nobody corporate will see it until Monday. Several big companies have been caught in blog storms that started on a weekend and that could have been diffused is someone was watching the store. So somebody has to be handling reputation management on weekends, but people can take turns doing that. If there's a problem, a simple phone call can summon the troops.

Constant connection is often an addiction
Nonetheless, it's common to see people answering email via Blackberry in meetings, at meals, and during events: something that strikes me as incredibly rude, but which seems almost universally accepted. For the most part, rather an a necessity, staying constantly connected is a habit that becomes an obsession, and then an addiction.

One 30-something friend told me "I have to be online 24/7 because my clients are." I responded: start by saying, "I'm not available until after noon on Sunday," and go from there, until you've re-claimed your weekends. She finally decided that was possible, and reports that she is not only less stressed, but ultimately also more productive because she now has some time to think.

How about you: how often are you unwired?

Posted by B.L. Ochman

Categories: Commentary

BL Ochman | May 29 07 11:04 | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Truth be told, I was unwired from Friday evening until yesterday afternoon. I wasn't planning on plugging back in until this morning, but one of my design studio clients called with a rush job. For which I charged my overtime rate of time and a half.

Posted by: Martha Retallick at May 29, 2007 1:59 PM

I check my mail constantly if I am at home. However, I don't have a laptop so I am significantly less 'connected' when I am out of town.

If I am at a hotel with a business center, I checked my mail probably three times a day.

If I'm at a small hotel without a business center, I simply acknowledge that I'll havbe a huge backlog of mail when I get home . . . and it's just something that I'll have to deal with . . .

Posted by: Dick at May 29, 2007 3:33 PM

I do have a laptop and half the time I can't get a decent wireless connection on the road. The email is definitely the problem - there has GOT to be a better way.

Posted by: B.L. Ochman at May 29, 2007 4:47 PM

Not often enough!

I won't get a Blackberry either for the same reason.
And I won't text mail.

Good for you that you took time off.

I was offline last week for three days and having a perfectly fabulous time in Napa. When I got on and checked my email, I had 867 messages...2/3 of which were spam. Being so connected is starting to become annoying.

Posted by: rickey gold at May 30, 2007 2:16 AM

Just because our clients do it, does it mean we have to? How can you relax if you're connected all the time? That takes us down a dangerous road, and often leads to burn-out.

I vote for keeping the boundaries between work time and downtime sacred!

Posted by: Susan Martin at May 30, 2007 8:51 AM

With five kids & 5 computers in the house, it's becoming a real problem for everyone. The kids are constantly checking their myspace/facebook/bebo accounts and, given that us adults are constantly checking emails, it's hard to set the right example. I'm considering having a household 'computer free day' once a week - I'll let you know what the kids' reactions are, if they don't kill me first!

Posted by: Kerry Harvey-Piper at May 30, 2007 10:29 AM

I try to live the wired/unwired life, dictated by my needs and not by the tools I have access to. No Blackberry for me. My T-mobile Dash can do the same thing, but I don't get email pushed to the device. When I absolutely need to, which is very rarely, I use my Yahoo account in a WiFi area.

Unless you're performing a heart bypass, and the ER is frantically looking for you, most situations can wait.

Posted by: Angelo Fernando at May 30, 2007 2:42 PM

I go on vacation to places that my cellphone just doesn't work, and occasionally I just force myself to disconnect to be sure I focus on where I am and what I'm doing.

As wired as I am, I still find it disturbing when people check their blackberry or send text messages in mid conversation with me.

I generally think the constant connection is a good thing, we just have to figure out the social protocols of it all. We don't really seem to have manners anymore, and that's the main issue. BTW -- I'm only 33 -- not 73.

Posted by: CarlenLea at June 12, 2007 9:42 AM

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About BL Ochman

Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations

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