We are said to be a nation of laws, but any desk jockey knows that’s an illusion. Unbounded email, CrackBerry, and cell-phone communications have turned civil society into an anarchic, free-fire zone of ceaseless incoming, stealing our time and invading nights and weekends. The volume of electronic messaging keeps mounting–without rules, limits, or traffic lights.
A Day-Timers survey confirmed that instant-communications technology is making it harder, not easier, to get things done. The number of people who report feeling very productive has dropped from 83% in 1994 to just 51% today. It’s hard to perform in a 24-7 distraction derby that constantly disrupts focus and feeds an epidemic of false urgency.
I know a New Jersey public relations exec, Jonathan Jaffe, who took his cell phone to Club Med and spent his vacation taking calls by the pool. To get Internet access, he drove 20 minutes to a library–where he invented a story about buying a local house to score privileges. He wound up visiting twice a day to check his inbox. “It was pathetic,” he admits.
In the spirit of Madison and Jefferson, it’s time to reclaim liberty, not to mention productivity, with some boundary setting and rules. It’s time to redraw the line between work and home, and between legitimate office communications and junk, with an E-Tool Bill of Rights.
Read more at: Fast Company