Has Remote Access Decreased Family/Personal Time?

Date posted: June 6, 2011

It is unfortunate, but we live in a time that allows us access to our office data and systems 24/7/365 and without geographical limitations.  So if it is 2:00 AM on a Sunday and you are flying over China in an airplane, technically you are able to access your files, e-mail and voicemail if the proper systems are in place.  Does that mean you SHOULD be accessing it?  Remote access technologies include webmail, smartphones, voice to text, VPN and remote desktop to name a few.

When I was a kid growing up in the 80s I remember my father coming home from work and not being bothered by a coworker, vendor, or customer.  If anything, he got a call from the office at home about once a year when there was a real emergency.   No pager, no cell phone, no texting and definitely no e-mail were available back then, but the U.S. prospered and had amazing business and economical growth.

Times have definitely changed to the point in which if you don’t reply to any e-mail that is sent at 9:00 PM by midnight, people wonder if you are on vacation or ill.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe in a global world that operates 24 hours a day without any interruption and responses within 4 hours.  What concerns me is that businesses out there preach the “work and life balance” programs, but I don’t know of many organizations that actually implement or enforce it.

Maybe the work/life balance is becoming more important as my kids are growing up and I don’t want to miss any time with them.   Very often I’ll be at a t-ball game, at the mall or even going for a walk in the neighborhood, and I find myself zoning out my family to respond to clients or coworkers.  I know this is almost impossible, but I challenge everyone to put down their phones and shutdown their computers from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM every weekday.  Do whatever non-business activities make you happy because you don’t need to work, the e-mail or voicemail will still be waiting for you at 7:01 AM.