Tagging onto the previous post of making phones simpler again, here’s an article from TheAge to make you think about the need to be connected all the time. You’ve doubtlessly all encountered it already, someone next to you talking away on their mobile about work, totally oblivious of the world around him/her. Or you yourself, taking that work call at home, or when you’re on holiday. It seems we’re never alone anymore, having our mobile phone or e-mail device always in reach.

So, are we getting more productive with this, or are we accelerating our own burnout by not having any real “downtime” anymore? There is a growing fear that in this “always connected” society, people will burn out even faster than before, being “on call” all the time, never relieved from the stress of work. It is a fact that our pace of work has increased: letters used to take days, but e-mail, sms, voicemail takes mere seconds, and people do expect replies faster and faster. According to some research quoted in the article, this isn’t too good: it found that people can work at 100 per cent efficiency for 45 hours a week. The next 10 hours they worked, they fell to 50 per cent efficiency; and for any hours after that, 25 per cent efficiency…

The “good” news is that future generations may have it easier with this. Kids expect to be connected all the time, and they are using their mobile devices more and more.. It just may be the way of the future.