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In Praise of Constant Connectivity
An anonymous reader wrote to mention an opinion piece on CNet discussing the realities of living in constant contact with the world at large. The author argues that the ability to connect actually creates time for us that we wouldn't have otherwise had. From the article: "... rather than obliterate our social lives, always-on connectivity and the increased flexibility it brings will allow us to break free from the office and actually socialise more. Sure, you'll be on call at unusual hours of the day, but think about how much more efficient you'll be -- particularly if your most productive hours aren't between 9am and 5:30pm! And besides, all newfangled technology comes with an 'off' switch should you find yourself needing some down time."
No thanks, I'll have the "off" switch and a sterile office, please. I've learned from experience that when something really, absolutley needs *doing*, sitting in a comfortable chair at home, with the Web at my fingertips, is a *massive* distraction.
That is not to say I am against ubiquitous connectivity - I long for the day mobile Web access is as simple as using a cellphone. With Google, dictionary.org, Wikipedia, various product review sites etc. on hand, making decisions and finding out information while on the move will be incredibly easy - in my *free time*.
For work though, I don't see "always on" as something as positive.
My always-on connection to the internet has been a major help when I need to get to a website in a bind, and I don't have to wait 3 minutes for a modem to dial in to an ISP, and then wait for some page to slowly load. Also my cell phone has proved invaluable in situations where I would have been stuck otherwise.
But along with that, the old tale of telemarketers and charity seekers calling at dinner time is still a pain (even if you have caller ID, it still is annoying to have the phone ring at such times unecessarily).
I'm sick of having near misses with innattentive pedestrians and cyclists with headphones on and staring into their mobiles[1]. These people aren't "connected to the world at large", they are disconnected from the real world around them. At some point my bike is going to make a connection with one of them as they step into the real world road without looking.
Baz
[1] yeah, I've seen cyclists pedalling and texting at the same time.
There are both pros and cons to the "constantly connected".
:(
Pros:
* I don't have to be in the office to actually "work". I am hardly there anyway as my work is supporting POS in a retail environment.
* I travel around a lot and am constantly in touch with others.
* I can schedule doctors, dentists, mortage, and other personal appointments whenever I feel like it.
* I can see a hit movie in the middle of an afternoon if I want. I saw Spider-Man that way and it was worth the afternoon.
* I hardly ever take vacation because I can take a Friday and drive to my Mom's , or Banff or wherever and take a long weekend as long as I can stay in touch with my Blackberry. As long as there is GSM service, I can be there (unless I really do take vacation).
* I determine what the priorities are and what my schedule is to a large degree. Sipping a margarita in the pool at a friend's house in the middle of Summer. *sigh* That was a good Summer.
* I can watch The View in the morning. OK, that's probably a con as there is nothing else on...
Cons:
* I must be on available for calls pretty much 24/7.
* I sometimes have to break important plans or appointments to solve problems or go to the trouble including having to break those fun three day weekends.
* I am expected to have instant answers to perplexing problems hundreds or thousands of miles away and solve those problems over the phone.
* I am many times engaged with work for 12, 14 or 18 hours at a time solving large scale problems or installing new locations.
* Putting down the margarita, getting out of the pool and driving six hours to a location to figure out what the alarm at a location is refusing to release a data line and having to fix the fuckup and completely rewire it and get back home at four in the morning.
* One of only two people in the company covering the entire country with the answer to a problem. The responsibility gets to you sometimes.
* When your friends tell you that you have no life other than work.
* Standing at my best friends wedding as the best man at the front of the church during the service and my Blackberry rings and I insisted that I had to answer it. That's when everyone figured I had a problem.
* Actually looking forward to the fucking View in the morning. God damn you Starr Jones! I hate that bitch...and that annoying skinny blonde.
In the work life of a lot of people, being connected 24/7 is now pretty much like being in the office 24/7. Yes, there is an off switch. Using it will just get you scalded because "we couldn't get hold of you like the hundreds of other times the minute we wanted to".
It certainly won't improve your work life, it just will make you more of a serf.
The only cases in favour that I can find would be artists waiting for employment and possibly self employed people who can at least more or less set their own rules.
In our private lives, being in touch 24/7 currently means that for a lot of people, no plans are made any more. Everything is now decided on the spur of the moment. Planning a dinner or a night out with friends is no longer possible. They will wait until the latest minute to see if there isn't anything more exciting going on elsewhere (of course they'll attempt to drag you along). Let's hope the dog enjoys whatever meal it was you cooked for the occasion.
Here too, not answering the phone (or turning it off) is immediately suspicious ("are you filtering me?"). And can lead to problematic relationship issues with friends.
Disclaimer: Those are my experiences in Europe, in your location YMMV.
Disclaimer 2: My cell phone is now off most of the time.
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I think one thing that this story is missing is the way that connectivity can really improve your social life. As a young guy still working a fairly lame non-cubicle job, connectivity makes my social life much easier. With a cellphone that not only makes basic calls with plenty of minutes, but also text messaging and mobile AIM, I can contact virtually all of my friends at any time and schedule any kind of get-together I want.
It used to be that if you wanted to get all of your friends together, you'd have to call all of them, and if they didn't answer their phone, you either leave a message on their machine at home or just have to call them back. Now, I just type in the message "Sushi tonight?" and send it to the eight people that have cellphones with text messaging, and then load up mobile AIM for the one or two that don't. In five minutes, I'd easily convinced all of my friends to go to the same restaurant as soon as they got out of work.
I also don't come home to any tedious questions or demands. I already know from text messages during the day that someone was too busy to feed the dogs, so I just walk in and do it. I already know that my sister had a bad day at work and I can read every detail of it while I'm eating lunch at work, rather than listening to a furious rant as soon as I've switched from "work mood" to "relaxed mood" when I walk in the door at home.
Connectivity makes life a lot easier in this regard. If I could do my work like this, it would even better.
amelith: The ones who are likely to welcome this are people who already work freelance in jobs such as writing and journalism, like the author of the article maybe? They already have to do time management and have a large amount of control over their working hours. Nobody is likely to ring them at 3AM to complain about a typo in their last article for example.
Spoken like a non-freelancer? You're mostly right. I've been a freelance writer (as well as composer, engraver, consultant, programmer, and photographer) for the past 30-plus years. As a freelancer on the US east coast, I work "in" a dozen times zones, from Prague to Portland, and until I set clear rules, that phone would ring at any hour of the day or night.
I've been computer-connected 24/7 since 2001, but now the phone and Skype are answered only automatically and a message must be left, even if I am here. I suggest callers always send an email to confirm their call and their question, because my clients know that their calls will be returned only when I can focus adequately on their question. Usually that is promptly, sometimes it isn't ... but the delay helps them both realize what is actually important and clarify the problem for themselves (and consequently for me). Their deadline is my deadline, but their panic is not my panic. The work always gets done, in time and well.
As you say, always-on is a great advantage for those who can manage their time and insist they not be taken advantage of. Managing it also helps clarity of thought and family life. But I had to develop the ability to say no to unacceptable work, even if it means a light diet for a while.
Dennis
My latest project
I think 90% of social structures (resturants, churches, movies, pubs, libraries, etc...) need faraday cages, or some other form of signal blocking. I'm so sick of idiots yelling at their phones in public, or dropping out of real conversation just to look at their little gadgets. It is outright rude.
If your talking to someone HERE, and NOW, then you talk to them. No matter how many times your little gizmo yells at you. Its polite, it is something from an older age called manners. People used to have them, but technology has done its best to kill them.
And, to be more OT, why is constant connectivity a good thing? I knew I had misanthropic tendancies, but I guess they are worse than I thought, since I really find no need to be in constant contact with people, news, slashdot, my friends, parents, neighbors, government, EVERYONE. I like the quiet time, even at work. I like quiet, uninterupted, conversations with friends, reading a good book far from a telephone or gidget. I like getting lost on little trails in the woods. Appearently I am a minority. What is so good about constantly being interupted?
Listen to a random sample of average cell conversations, or chat logs, or even analyze the topics of your own conversations. How much of the communication is pure noise? I've noticed that cellphones bring out the urge to spill all of our minutia to uncaring others. People sit around talking about shopping, their classes, how they need to buy more shoes, that they went to the dentist, the current state of their bowels. But rarely anything meaningful. They just want others to live their lives vicariously.
Also, contrary to the article, it is damaging our social structure, and making us more and more clanish. When I was going to a community college back in the mid-late 90's, after classes people would go outside, light a cigarette, and talk to their classmates, now people immediatly open their phones and talk to people they already know, never needing to confront strangers. One would think that this lack of novelty would lead to a more closed minded society, where we never need to confront opinions other than the ones we are familior with already.
Wow, that turned into a rant. Sorry. Needless to say, I don't own a cell-phone, turn off AIM periodically (much to the shock of my friends), and only check my email (private) once a day. I sometimes keep the ringer off on my phone (mostly weekends, or holidays), with the answering machine volume off, and check the messages once a day. I get more done, and I think my mental health is better (no tech caused ADD).
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey