Techiebytes

I’m sitting at dinner with my wife and kids and continually hearing a faint buzz move around the restaurant. It’s almost as if the entire place is filled with some large but invisible flying insects. As it nears my table it occurs to me the entire place is infested with TXT messages. As the buzz hits my table the phones fly out in a way reminiscent of a gunslinger during a showdown. I quickly move to stop this unacceptable table behavior but then it happens: my phone begins to vibrate and I have to face my own communication addiction. So it’s a little dramatic, but mobile devices are everywhere. You see people TXTing at dinner, in meetings, even in church.

Is it merely just a matter of communication or have we all become addicted to our devices? There is a reason we call them Crackberries after all – once you have a taste of instant communication it’s almost impossible to give it up. I won’t argue that mobile devices have added new levels of communication in both business and personal life. I’m not sure how I would function without push e-mail as it makes me far more effective in my job and more comfortable as I travel. I utilize TXT messages to communicate with my family and use Twitter with TXT to keep up with tech trends and news.

My experience with mobile messaging seems positive. Still, I wonder what the cost to productivity is when I’m in the office with my phone vibrating every three minutes. Can I remain effective while maintaining a level of 100% multitasking? Is family dinner really family dinner when we all stare at two inch screens? Most of all I wonder, why can’t I just ignore it or turn it off?

As an experiment I took it upon myself to follow some work-life balance advice and disconnect for a portion of each day. I decided that I’d apply some very simple communication rules and gauge my productivity and my overall comfort level.

My simple rules:

• I’d turn my phone off while I was in the office
• I’d turn my phone off during dinner
• I’d set my phone to only check office e-mail once an hour before and after work
• I’d close Outlook and only view e-mail once an hour while at work

I found that I had significant gains in my personal productivity while in the office. My project work was completed efficiently and I fond great satisfaction in closing out my tasks quickly. While at home I felt a sense of anxiety that I might miss something but after a few days it dwindled and I was relaxed and interacting with my family in normal ways. Both were positive outcomes, so it would seem my experience without mobile messaging was positive as well, and went quite smoothly…

Well, not exactly. My children have come to rely on TXT for those last minute decisions that dads make and those last minute pick-ups required when dad says no. Seems I missed more than one urgent text and with my phone off I missed the calls too. In the office I missed more than one impromptu meeting and was late responding to more than a few critical issues. In the long run my time without TXT caused far more chaos than comfort.

My conclusion is we’re all addicted to mobile messaging. It’s become part of the culture and once you’re connected you can’t escape. It’s true there are side effects but in the long run it’s safer than smoking so I guess it’s OK if the kids TXT at the table, at least I know how to get a hold of them when they’re on dates.