Slashdot Mirror
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."
Worse is the number of people driving pickup trucks around in the state you describe. Chances are, you and your bike are going to come off worse than them and thier truck when they make that connection with you without even seeing you.
I'm not sure I agree with this. Being on call is real work because it limits your freedom to do the things you'd normally do outside work to relax.
Many of the people using this technology are doing so because they've been given no choice or have been led to believe that they're somehow not important unless they're constantly available at someone else's whim.
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.
When 'on call' means supporting complicated systems that run 24/7 it's different. You have no control over the timing and you can't switch your phone off if you need to deal with something important outside work. People in other timezones will call you at convenient times for them, regardless of your situation.
I'm not saying being on call is all bad and some companies manage it very well but its somewhat naive to assume that giving people more connectivity will give them more control over their work rather than less.
Ame
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.
Look, just stop stressing about it and you'll find you'll lose that flinch reaction. Everybody gets a little tense about their first, but once you've bagged a few it'll just start to come naturally, and then you'll be bowling them over like ninepins.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."