What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
If you're like me, you reach out for your phone to see what email you have received! This is really pathetic. Till about a year or so back, I did not have a data plan on my phone. I rarely used my phone for email even when I was in a Wifi network at home or office. Life was much more peaceful then. Ever since I got data on my phone, I am living life always on tenterhooks.
When I wake up in the morning, I need to see my email. When I am having lunch, if the email alert beeps, I need to immediately read the email and worse, respond right then. Even when I am in a meeting, I need to check and respond to the email I received in between. Never mind if what I was responding to was far less important than the meeting itself.
This whole 'always connected' syndrome is ruining me. It does not let me participate and enjoy the present moment. I am never living in the moment.
This affects my personal life for sure. It also affects my effectiveness at work. I feel it is very important for us to be fully involved in what we're doing at any given point in time. If I am eating, I should focus on eating. If I am sleeping, I must try to get a full, sound sleep. If I am in a meeting, I must be 100% in the meeting. Only then am I going to be effective!
But my cell phone will not let me. And a lot of the times, the emails are not that urgent requiring an instant reply! Heck, if it was that important, they would have called!
From today, I am planning to turn off email on my phone at least when I am about to go to bed and turn it on after I have woken up completely and settled into my day. Depending on how it goes, eventually I plan to turn off email on my phone completely unless in an emergency!
If you're like me, you reach out for your phone to see what email you have received! This is really pathetic. Till about a year or so back, I did not have a data plan on my phone. I rarely used my phone for email even when I was in a Wifi network at home or office. Life was much more peaceful then. Ever since I got data on my phone, I am living life always on tenterhooks.
When I wake up in the morning, I need to see my email. When I am having lunch, if the email alert beeps, I need to immediately read the email and worse, respond right then. Even when I am in a meeting, I need to check and respond to the email I received in between. Never mind if what I was responding to was far less important than the meeting itself.
This whole 'always connected' syndrome is ruining me. It does not let me participate and enjoy the present moment. I am never living in the moment.
This affects my personal life for sure. It also affects my effectiveness at work. I feel it is very important for us to be fully involved in what we're doing at any given point in time. If I am eating, I should focus on eating. If I am sleeping, I must try to get a full, sound sleep. If I am in a meeting, I must be 100% in the meeting. Only then am I going to be effective!
But my cell phone will not let me. And a lot of the times, the emails are not that urgent requiring an instant reply! Heck, if it was that important, they would have called!
From today, I am planning to turn off email on my phone at least when I am about to go to bed and turn it on after I have woken up completely and settled into my day. Depending on how it goes, eventually I plan to turn off email on my phone completely unless in an emergency!
Comments
smart phones were supposed to make our lives easy.
How many times do you refresh your mailbox ? :-)
Sudhir Sambrani
"Heck, if it was that important, they would have called"...else they would wait for the reply. Eventually i'm not a so busy kind of person to keep monitoring my mails and the world would not turn upside down if i dont reply immediately. Yes, i keep tracking my phone text inbox though.
Vinay