Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Smart Phones Cause ‘Telepressure’



A recent study coined a new term: “telepressure.” This is the stress caused by a need to check and respond to work emails while at home. It can begin the moment a person wakes up, and can continue until well past midnight, as one final email reply is sent out on a smart phone while lying in bed. And take my word for it, being exhausted but unable to fall asleep while visions of quarterly sales reports dance in your head is a delightful feeling, especially when the alarm clock is set to go off in five hours so the cycle can begin all over again.

Researchers have discovered that people who feel obligated to respond to work emails at all hours of the day have difficulty sleeping, have higher levels of stress and burnout, and have more health-related absences from work. Although since it’s possible to reply to emails on a phone even when in a hospital bed, should we really call these episodes “absences from work”? I know some people who in all seriousness would call these episodes “goldbricking,” “a sign of weakness,” and “reason to question your loyalty to the firm.”

The study did not mention another symptom of doing work emails at home: people don’t have bags under their eyes, they have carry-on luggage.

The research found that 52-percent of Americans check their email before and after regular work hours, and this includes Sundays, sick days, and vacation days. I suspect the percentage is even higher, as some people were unable to respond to the survey because at that moment they were too busy typing out a frantic work email.

There is one very clear conclusion we can draw from this research: Steve Jobs was an agent of Satan. OK, maybe that’s a bit harsh. The late, great inventor of the iPhone most likely did not have a secret master plan to make everyone unhappy and unhealthy. Smart phones are indeed remarkable devices. (I suppose you could say the same thing about hydrogen bombs.)

But as is the case with many good things (to clarify, I’m not including hydrogen bombs here), human beings have a tendency to go overboard. I’m thinking at the moment of two items: bacon-flavored chocolate, which I recently received as a birthday present (and if I’m soon in need bacon-flavored methadone, you’ll know why), and the proliferation of fluorescent colored running shoes. Really, Nike? You really think those glow-in-the-dark sneakers look GOOD? We all know your shoes are infinitely more comfortable than the old Converse All Stars of a generation ago. But when people want comfortable footwear, do they really need to look like Ringling Brothers employees?

An interesting aspect about the email research is that people who are on vacation and purposely force themselves NOT to check work emails are more stressed-out than if they spent time replying to emails. This is because they fear they are missing something important, and worry that a client or their boss or Steve Jobs will be displeased with them.

The only solution to telepressure is to force yourself to turn off the smart phone at 5 p.m., and don’t turn it back on until 8 a.m. the next morning. I’ll bet in many cases this won’t even be a problem. No clients or bosses or agents of Satan will be displeased. But if this does become a problem, look on the bright side. If you lose your job and the bank forecloses on your house and your spouse and children leave you, at least while huddled inside a cardboard box in an alley, you will get the best night’s sleep you’ve had in years.

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