A study out of the U.K. said BlackBerry smartphones and other always-connected devices are effectively adding 10 extra days of work a year.
The study surveyed 1,000 Brits and found 24% feel stressed because they are always on call. More than a quarter of these workers use their devices on the weekend, and 22% of those who do turn off their handset still look at work e-mails. Only a third of men turn off their BlackBerry smartphone over the weekend, compared to more than half of women.
These studies are always a bit overblown in the same way we see those stories about Facebook costing businesses billions in lost productivity. It would be foolish to say that the work/life balance hasn’t changed but I think that’s okay because the 9-to-5 schedule is antiquated. Sure, you may now be on the hook to respond to work e-mails on the weekends but that same ability should enable flexibility to take off in an afternoon if you need to do things like pick up your kids.