A decade ago, when the iPhone was introduced, few would have guessed the ways in which the digital world would end up permeating so many areas of our lives. There were hints – the growing ubiquity of email, the budding shoots of social media such as Facebook – but the smartphone took the ‘always-on’ connectivity we thought we wanted for the freedom to work flexibly to a new level.
For every benefit that tech has brought, such as remote working, the ability to respond quickly or send emails on the move, there is the ever-present danger of connection overload. Our burgeoning inboxes and insistent smartphones can become an energy-absorbing experience, demanding we strive to do everything at once, and often immediately.
As such, we often live with implicit tension, whether that’s wondering if we’ve taken too long to get back to our boss or worrying that our attention is being drawn away from family or friends – and the impact that can have on our relationships.
Many of us have trouble leaving our work behind at the end of the day, too – and real downtime can seem like a dream if we don’t manage stakeholder expectations and put boundaries in place to protect it.
With the growing realisation that technology can not only benefit but challenge our work and personal life, it’s clear that creating a good tech-life balance is a crucial wellbeing skill. How connected are you and are you really in control of your time? Our quiz will show you where you might need to rethink your relationship with technology to get the most out of it.
1) You have left your smartphone in a taxi. How lost are you without it?
A. I can manage without it for a while. I treat the phone as my assistant, I use it only when I need it then I switch it off. I use it to manage things effectively, generating well-deserved downtime.
B. I find it useful but it's also a distraction. I have a tendency to stop before completing a task to quickly look something up on the web or check my emails or social media when I don't need to. I work better if I switch it off.
C. I'm dependent on it and use it all the time, and it means I'm available to colleagues and clients 24/7. I find having a smartphone can be overwhelming, especially if there’s a lot going on at work. I find it really hard to concentrate when I’ve got a constant stream of emails to answer.
2) You've got a big pitch to prepare for, with a short deadline. How often do you check your phone, tablet or PC for emails?
A. I give myself a clear hour before checking my emails. I mute my phone and have a specific ring tone set up for the most important people and ignore the rest, so I focus on the task I’m engaged in.
B. I'm fairly disciplined but can't resist checking my phone screen a few times. Routine and discipline have been the secret of my success but the phone does have a tendency to throw me off a bit.
C. I feel like I always need to be ‘on’ for work and I find myself checking emails every few minutes just in case something important comes up. I think it makes my productivity worse, not better.
3) You’re in a meeting and your phone goes off. What is it?
A. It's not my phone. My phone is off if I’m in a meeting. I want to focus 100 per cent on my client so I can fully understand their needs.
B. Notifications are on but I mute them so I can choose when to look at them. It’s rarely the emergency other people tend to think it is, but I like to know what’s going on.
C. My notifications are set to be as loud as possible. I never want to miss a call or message. It’s my job and this is a company phone, so you never know who's trying to get in touch.
4) You’re on a night out and realise that you’ve forgotten to check an email a client promised to send you. What do you do?
A. It depends how urgent the email is. If it's essential, I check it – I will excuse myself and quickly respond.
B. I know I shouldn't but I just want to be sure I don't upset my client. I’ll pop to the loo to read the email so I don't upset my partner.
C. I grab my smartphone and type frantically, scanning for typos, while my partner sits there at a loose end, looking round the room.
5) Your computer is running really slowly. Could it be weighed down with the size of your email inbox?
A. I strive for Inbox Zero and have things carefully filed. I have junk filters on and use an unsubscribe service to dump junk emails.
B. It might be. I try to tackle my emails as soon as they come in, but it’s hard to keep on top of them and it can affect productivity.
C. Probably. My inbox is bulging. I try to scroll through my emails and focus on the most important first, though I do have a lot of unread emails.
6) You're really busy at work. How and when do you respond to your emails at work and then at home?
A. I close my browser so I don’t get distracted by incoming emails. I respond to them once in the morning and once in the afternoon. My work email account is not set up on my personal phone.
B. I try to only look at my emails a few times a day, as I can get distracted easily. I check my work emails in the evening on my phone, but only reply if a query is urgent.
C. I’m constantly checking my email, on my computer and on my phone. I worry that I might miss something crucial if I don’t. It’s often difficult to focus again on what I was doing before.
7) There's a train strike and you have to work from home. How much do you get done?
A. I clear lots of outstanding tasks. I find working at home or out of the office equally productive, but in different ways. I use technology to do anything I’m able to do in the office and can log into the server from anywhere in the world and use video conferencing for meetings.
B. I'm not sure how efficient I am. I like working at home, and usually work well, though I have a tendency to check social media and be less productive than I would be at the office.
C. I don’t ever like to work from home because I always have trouble connecting to the server. I’m a bit lost when I’m out of the office, to be honest.
8) Someone at work adds you to a WhatsApp group about a new project. Do you accept?
A. I do but will leave the group as soon as the job is finished. WhatsApp can be helpful for work conversations but people often overuse it and it’s distracting. I’m wary of losing track of crucial information with so many messages to read through.
B. I use quite a few messenger apps and I’m in a number of different groups so sometimes I miss important information. It’s not very efficient.
C. Yes, I don't want to miss out. I’m in loads of groups and it’s a bit overwhelming. Work stuff can get lost in the mix and miscommunications can occur.
9) A colleague wants to follow you on Facebook, do you accept?
A. Yes, my use of social media is purely strategic. I upload posts that promote my personal brand and use it connect with new work contacts. I refresh LinkedIn and other work-related sites to present my latest work to prospective clients or employers and I only use Twitter strategically.
B. No, I only use Facebook for friends and family. I limit my use and my involvement with conversations on social media is fairly sporadic.
C. I’m not sure when to use social media so I check it all the time. I’m paranoid that I’m not being ‘seen’ so I spend a lot of time sharing my thoughts.
10) How do you use technology in your home?
A. I use tech to help me run my home. My thermostat and lighting can be controlled by an app and I play music through a multi-room system so I can listen anywhere in the house. Important files including photos are backed up to a NAS hard drive and a cloud service so I never have to worry about data loss.
B. I have Alexa, which I am getting used to using in the home. Other than that I only really use my phone for music, photos and online shopping. I don’t sync up anything either – I have a laptop but it hasn’t got all my latest photos and contacts on it.
C. I like the sound of a ‘smart home’ – I’m just not entirely sure what that is?
ANSWERS
Mostly A
Your tech life is well-balanced. You use technology to enable and enhance your productivity and you’re in control rather than a slave to it. You prioritise tasks that are important to you and use technology as an assistant to ease your workload. You know your boundaries between work and leisure, without compromising on either. You’ve got the balance sussed – so why not explore other ways in which technology can help to enrich your life, such as the everywoman article Best Mindfulness Apps to Pay Attention To.
Mostly B
Though you are using technology well, you can sometimes feel overwhelmed by it. Keen to achieve, you confuse primary and secondary tasks and struggle to prioritise. Without setting firm boundaries in areas such as email, messaging and social media, your stress levels are likely to remain high and you’re unlikely to work as efficiently as you could. Explore the issues – and find out some great ways to manage your time better – with the everywoman article Precrastination and Why it’s Just as Bad for Your Career as Procrastination.
Mostly C
With little tech-life balance, you have become submissive to technology. Swamped by email and easily distracted by social media and messaging, you have no systems in place for handling a digital workload that feels as if it is spiraling out of control. As you’re ‘always on’, you risk your psychological wellbeing by finding so little time to unwind. Try to set a strict daily routine for email and other digital communications, then ‘disconnect’ while you prioritise the most important tasks. The everywoman article Digital Detox: Time for Some Conscious Technological Uncoupling might also give you some ideas for a rebalancing break from tech overload.
