Does mobile make us too accessible?

Mobile has completely transformed society. It used to be people had to wait for a return call after leaving a message, but today’s on-demand culture allows instantaneous connection with people. Accessibility is nearly impossible not to have with all the available ways to connect. If a message isn't answered in a timely fashion, people don't always respond well.

Does mobile make us too accessible?



Do we feel too obligated to respond?

There are societal pressures in being able to talk at any given time and people sometimes become incensed if someone doesn’t have a moment or two to talk. I'm not suggesting this is the case for everyone, but in the age of instant ability, in many ways, hasn’t it become an expectation? In most aspects of life, people are way too accessible these days thanks to mobile and this has brought on some negative effects in society.

Affects work-life balance

Businesses now also expect total accessibility. Companies often provide a mobile or other electronic means to contact their employees any hour of the day or night. From an employer’s perspective, today there is little reason why people don’t immediately receive a message. Between phones, call waiting, texting, social media, alert and paging systems, it's harder be out of reach without providing a darned good excuse for it.

Isn't this bound to eventually have an effect on employees' personal lives? Think about it, essentially people aren’t given a break from their workday. As a result, work-life balance suffers because total accessibility can cause problems in family life, interrupt vacations and cause stress. Statistics currently suggest mobile increases productivity but the burning question is, at what cost?

Other ripple effects

How often are people subjected to rings, beeps, and a variety of ringtones in the office or in public? True, many people silence their phones but not always. Conversations (oft loud) routinely interrupt meals in restaurants, business meetings, and social events. People have accidents when driving because they are too busy talking or texting with their eyes distracted from the road. The desire for accessibility has created numerous ripple effects throughout our modern society.

Impact on the individual

Privacy is another aspect of life which has been impacted by the high use of mobile. Many people, whether for business or social calls, can’t get a moment’s peace without some sort of notification going off. Yet, on the same token, a growing number of people are addicted to their mobile devices and can’t resist any sort of communication they receive.

Look how many people have installed various apps so they can always be connected. In 2014, CBNC reported mobile addiction was “growing at an alarming rate.” That survey, conducted by Flurry, defined mobile addicts as users who launch apps 60x a day or more. According to Flurry, this statistic was an increase of 123 percent over the previous year. Fast forward to 2017, and one firm says people swipe their smartphones, on average, more than a whopping 2,600 times a day!

Reason stands to say that people feel if they aren’t updated immediately they’re bound to miss something. Is this logic really rational? People have existed for thousands of years without instant contact and total accessibility. Why is it in our society we feel the need to remain so connected? Is there anything so important that it can’t wait?

The bottom line is the problem isn’t with mobile, it’s with people. It's with expectations. It’s with the behavioral aspects people exhibit towards their compulsion of mobile and accessibility which are changing the dynamics of society. It'll be interesting to see how this affects the workplace in the long run. Researchers have long been talking about the problems associated with cyberloafing in the workplace. A study last year published by CareerBuilder found mobile was sapping productivity out of work.

It's important for both employers and employees to truly strike a balance when it comes to mobile accessibility in order for productivity and work-life balance to live in harmony. Over the long-term, isn't it worth the effort?

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