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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 March 2021
Tuesday. 7.45am. Your commute is going well. No delays so far. Of the 15 emails awaiting your attention, you’ve answered eight. Only seven more to go. But these are tricky ones. You dip into your phone's browser, download a file from your work's server, scan it to ensure it has the data you need. Back into email. ‘Hi Sarah, sales were up 3.4% in March. Let me know if you need further info.’ Back into the browser. Apparently, there was an angry message posted on Twitter last night. You find it, look through the profile of the customer, copy the message. Back into email. ‘Hi James, some flak on Twitter last night. I’m pasting the message. Please resolve.’ You see that Sarah has replied already. She wants to know what sales were in March for the last five years. You’ll be arriving soon. No time for this. ‘Sarah, I’ll come back to you in twenty: just arriving on train.’ James has replied also. ‘Who wrote this tweet?’ Back into the browser. No internet connection? You look up: other commuters are looking up and around, confused. Seems the train's Wi-Fi has gone down. Only then do you notice: you missed your stop.
For many people today, the separation of time spent at work and time spent away from work has disappeared. Before the digital revolution, a fair few workers would have worked during their commute: reading a report perhaps, or preparing notes in advance of an afternoon meeting. But there were technological limits to this type of activity. With no email, your connection to a Sarah or a James hinged on meeting them once you arrived in the office or giving them a call from your desk. While reading a report, you weren't receiving ‘pings’ asking you to handle some other matter. Nowadays, technology facilitates and encourages multiple simultaneous conversations across numerous platforms. Once you’re online – which could be from the moment you wake up – work activities can easily suck you in: answering emails, checking technical reports, looking for updates, requesting information from colleagues, editing files, and more, all while you make coffee, eat breakfast, get the kids dressed, take them to school, and head for the train.
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