The Invisible Tether

By: Rick McCallion

In some of my past articles and blog entries, I’ve talked about how one of my dislikes of technology is that there is a certain obsession to “keep in touch”; to remain tethered to technology. To a very large extent, I think that this is a big problem.  This problem isn’t really so much an issue of technology, but rather it’s more about how we choose to use it.

For my readers that don’t know me, my friends and loved ones will tell you that I am just as guilty as everyone else when it comes to this obsession to stay connected.  I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times in the past, where I’m lying in bed trying to go to sleep and then I think to myself that I should give my email a quick check – for no particular reason.  It’s not like I was expecting an email, but it almost becomes a habit

What triggered this article was something that happened at work a little while back.  I was in the men’s room and a gentleman walks in – talking away on his cell phone.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, he proceeded to the stall and assumedly attended to his business.  I was just totally flabbergasted as to what was so important that he couldn’t wait for until the phone call was over, or if the call to nature was particularly urgent, to say that he’d call back in a bit.

As I mentioned, I’ve written similar articles in the past.  One of my biggest concerns with technology is that it’s a given that most of us are expected to be accessible.  I read an article recently that from a business and legal perspective, that there’s an entire grey zone as it relates to “Blackberry Overtime”.  As evidenced when you ride the subway, or attend a baseball game or even while at a theatre, people are instantly accessible via their Blackberry – connected to work – and always available.  There are legal cases pending where employees are putting in for overtime where the premise of this overtime was that they were expected to be on call.  The concept of 9-5 is something that is eroding.

However, this whole issue of staying connected with the workplace is more than just an issue of having our pager or cell phones turned on – just in case there is an emergency.  This scenario is a passive one – one where the user of the communications device simply has it on, just in case there’s an important call or a support issue.  For certain job functions, that’s a very reasonable requirement.

The real problem is that this concept of being accessible to the workplace after hours has mutated to also being an active problem.  People aren’t just leaving their communications device turned on, they’re actively checking their emails – and you can bet that not only are they checking their email, but that will remind them of an (unrelated) email that they didn’t respond to.  Oh yes, and then there’s that meeting that needed to be rescheduled.  Oh – while I’m connected, I better write that email to Marketing about the new promotional materials.  And so on, ad infinitum.

My dislike of the social implications or this 24/7 interaction is probably well documented for anyone that has read my articles.  I guess that it’s different strokes for different folks, but I don’t understand the compulsion and need to tweet about the minutia of one’s life – about what kind of bagel I ate or to update my Facebook status to say how I’m feeling blah today.

On to the good...

There is no question that this invisible tether can be tremendously useful.  It allows me to stay connected to my kids when I’m not there and it gives me a sense of comfort and security that I am accessible to them, should the need arise.

Although I have listed the disadvantages to this constantly wired world, it is a necessary evil (for lack of a better word).  Without this accessibility, the information superhighway would be far less accessible and there have been numerous occasions where being able to browse the web from my smart phone or my iPod have benefitted me.  From staying in touch with others when I was hospitalized, to being able to look up medical or legal information whenever I needed it, even for things as mundane as checking the address of a restaurant, or perhaps to see the next show time of a movie that I want to see. 

To paraphrase Charlton Heston, you can only pry this technology from my cold, dead hands.  But please, let’s start having some sanity and put some context back into when it is and when it isn’t appropriate to be accessing this tether.

To share your views with Rick visit his blog http://techumanity.blogspot.com