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The Secret to Disconnecting? Bring Back the 'Away' Message (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the last year, gadget and software makers have developed ways for users to better manage their relationship with technology. They make it easier to ignore notifications or quiet all but the most important stuff. But even the latest mobile OS updates don't address the entire problem. In this always-on era, we are assumed to be near our phones all the time, and there is no good way to signal to the world when we are not. There is no way to proclaim, "I'm not available, I won't see your notification, and I won't care until next Sunday." The solution isn't complicated. In fact, it has been around since the '90s. It is called an "away" message, and we need it now more than ever.
Most people's first experience with an away message came on AOL Instant Messenger. Those were the days before mobile, when you could only be online while sitting at the computer -- probably a wheezing beige colossus running Windows 95. Rather than log off every time you had to run to the store, AIM allowed you to change a small icon next to your name from green, which signified you were online and available, to red, which meant you were temporarily indisposed. [...] Away messages helped users understand why their buddies weren't responding. More important, away messages offered permission to actually go away. If someone needed you urgently, they would try another route, but mostly they would leave you alone. You weren't ignoring them on purpose; you were just gone.
Most people's first experience with an away message came on AOL Instant Messenger. Those were the days before mobile, when you could only be online while sitting at the computer -- probably a wheezing beige colossus running Windows 95. Rather than log off every time you had to run to the store, AIM allowed you to change a small icon next to your name from green, which signified you were online and available, to red, which meant you were temporarily indisposed. [...] Away messages helped users understand why their buddies weren't responding. More important, away messages offered permission to actually go away. If someone needed you urgently, they would try another route, but mostly they would leave you alone. You weren't ignoring them on purpose; you were just gone.
It's because I'm away or simply because I don't want to answer. (You decide)."
That was my status message on my IM clients and I never used the "away" status. For some reason it worked, because it left to the sender with the responsibility of deciding what was the actual reason for not receiving an answer. And because that simple reason no-one ever felt offended because no-one wanted to think that I do not want to answer.
I think we have a really deep cultural problem, fueled by the IM applications were there is an "expectation" of being available all the time... With the message status confirmations is even worse. Sometimes you simply cannot answer (I.E.: you check your phone in the middle of a meeting and is nothing of importance so you can answer after the meeting is finished).
We need to learn again to not to expect an immediate answer.
you have to have pretty heavy buy-in to the O365 platform
It's not "buy-in" when you're talking about O365, it's "rent-in".