Over the Christmas period, there'll be very few people who don't "keep in touch" with work. Some will take it further and be unable to leave things alone disappearing from the family gathering for extended periods. The winking light on the phone, or the buzz from a blackberry as another email hits the mat has a huge magnetic attraction and it's hard to resist.
What is this obsession with allowing work to intrude so clearly in to our personal lives? Misplaced Loyalty? Self-Importance? Fear of failure? Fear of losing stature? A distraction from having to spend so long with the family? Probably some or all of the above. When the CEO seems determined to be able to communicate at any time of day or night, there's pressure on everyone else to do the same, even though they don't have the entourage to help.
Let's be blunt here: Unless you're being paid to be on call and responsible for specific systems and services that your company relies on over the festive period, you should feel able to switch off. If you're on holiday, you should be on holiday.
It's easy to blame the technology in these circumstance, but technology is just the conduit that enables us to allow work to creep in to our leisure time. We only have ourselves to blame! I recall a TV programme called "Why Don't You?" with the ironic signature tune lyrics of ""Why Don't You Switch Off Your Television Set And Go And Do Something Else Less Boring Instead." (interesting fact: Russell T Davis of Dr Who fame was a producer of the programme for a while). Every bit of technology has an off switch, we can use them, there's no reason why not.
Come on everyone, let's have a very merry, switched off, Christmas. Spending time with the family is important, we shouldn't be allowing the tech to get in the way of achieving that. Instead use it to bring the family closer together, for instance:
What is this obsession with allowing work to intrude so clearly in to our personal lives? Misplaced Loyalty? Self-Importance? Fear of failure? Fear of losing stature? A distraction from having to spend so long with the family? Probably some or all of the above. When the CEO seems determined to be able to communicate at any time of day or night, there's pressure on everyone else to do the same, even though they don't have the entourage to help.
Let's be blunt here: Unless you're being paid to be on call and responsible for specific systems and services that your company relies on over the festive period, you should feel able to switch off. If you're on holiday, you should be on holiday.
It's easy to blame the technology in these circumstance, but technology is just the conduit that enables us to allow work to creep in to our leisure time. We only have ourselves to blame! I recall a TV programme called "Why Don't You?" with the ironic signature tune lyrics of ""Why Don't You Switch Off Your Television Set And Go And Do Something Else Less Boring Instead." (interesting fact: Russell T Davis of Dr Who fame was a producer of the programme for a while). Every bit of technology has an off switch, we can use them, there's no reason why not.
Come on everyone, let's have a very merry, switched off, Christmas. Spending time with the family is important, we shouldn't be allowing the tech to get in the way of achieving that. Instead use it to bring the family closer together, for instance:
- Skype: Video conference with your family in far-flung places. It's great fun. Share present unwrapping with those overseas.
- Collaborative gaming: Most of the consoles now have multiplayer family friendly games to play. Start with Mario Kart on the Wii and go from there.
- Music: Load up the iP* with festive music and play it through the stereo.
- Pictures & Video: Use your tech to get creative and show others how your Christmas went, what about time-lapse photography of Christmas morning?
- Oh, and the first person to check their email pays a big forfeit.
Happy Christmas everyone!
UPDATE: The BBC today has a story stating that VW has decided to turn off email traffic to Blackberry devices when employee are not working. Well done!
UPDATE: The BBC today has a story stating that VW has decided to turn off email traffic to Blackberry devices when employee are not working. Well done!
