The very first thing that you did when you woke up a few years ago was to light up a cigarette and take a shot of hot black coffee, but now you pick up your Smartphone from your nightstand and immediately check your e-mail as your wander downstairs to have a glass of juice. Even though it’s Saturday morning, you immediately respond to your work related e-mails and then log onto Facebook.
You then proceed to respond to your personal Facebook comments and messages while deleting the others which you receive in your inbox that means nothing to you.
You perform all this, every single morning, all before you sit down for a bagel breakfast. Then throughout the day, you constantly check your smartphone once at least every fifteen to thirty minutes all day long, seven days a week.
Mobile Devices Are Now Irreplaceable
According to an online survey and study group which tracks mobile usage behavior, using of your smartphone as described above may be a bit extreme on average, even though the vast majority of all mobile users actually do check their trusty smartphones on a constant basis during their “downtime,” when they’re not working.
The research however doesn’t offer much qualitative analysis regarding whether excessive smartphone usage that’s not work related is good or bad, but it does shed light on the “always connected” phenomenon, which began close to a decade ago.
There are over 30% percent of those owning a mobile device who actually check their smartphones while their walking according to the survey. There however seems like there’s a lot more who are strolling down the sidewalk with their heads tilted, texting away.
Mobile Usage In The Workplace
When in the workplace, where they surveyed over 4000 mobile employees representing 1200 enterprises revealed that 40% percent of workers who use mobile devices actually wake up sometime during the night so they can check their e-mail, while 67% percent go to sleep with their smartphones turned on.
For those who are on the extreme scale of smartphone users, close to 35% percent of mobile users actually check their smartphone once every 6 to 12 minutes at any given time, regardless if they’re working or not.
There were also 64% percent of smartphone owners who carry their devices with them wherever they go, from the moment that they wake up to the last minute that they go to bed.
33% percent of those claim that mobile technology was the main reason for friction in their personal relationships with others. So what that states is that it’s pretty obvious your partner or better half isn’t going to appreciate that your are either chatting, texting, Tweeting, or whatever mobile related while at the dinner table.
So what this states regarding mobile users and especially for employees who use smartphones, is to become a lot more productive by they being connected on a 24/7 basis. These mobile workers however, work 250 hours on average more a year when compared to their counterparts who do not use mobile technology.
If You’re Too Connected To Your Smartphone
So for those who are always on their mobile phones should be fully aware of potential relationship costs, the majority of these workers who are constantly connected are actually highly responsive as well as ready to be engaged in anything that’s required.
It’s pretty obvious that these mobile workers who are always checking their phones or going to sleep with their mobiles may not necessarily be a good thing. What you need to do is draw the line between your actual downtime, your work, and play.
Like anything else, it’s up to the individual who needs to determine what’s right for them. You like to work, so you check your work e-mail even it it’s on a Saturday morning. Whenever you feel you need to get away from it all and want to avoid the office, just ignore your inbox.
All this instant ease of mobile connectivity using your smartphone to constantly interact with your selected network of friends is just too convenient.
Most may agree that actual work and smartphone usage during “downtime” should be separated, while others ask what for? Obviously, if you’re an employee and you’re required to be “always connected,” then it’s up to you how much you really enjoy your work.
So there is this outcry of how working is now continually encroaching on what’s supposed to be leisure time will only increase, but it all comes down to how much you enjoy what you do. You may be wondering why combining work and play is considered such a bad thing.