President Obama who is the single best advertisement for Blackberry (note how they cut back tremendously on their advertising since he has been in office), is probably also the poster child for just how plugged in and connected we are as a species. This increased connectivity comes at a price and we all are beneficiaries and victims of it in one way or another.
The upside of having 4G connectivity and wireless enabled devices in every pocket, bag, satchel, briefcase and palm is that we are instantly in contact with everyone and with the world whether by voice, fax, Web, BBM, MSN, email, SMS, video, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter...you name it, we are connected, connected, connected. The invisible strings, wires and cords of communication are streaming all around us, encircling us, entangling us, trapping us, chocking us, stifling us under a mass of communication, communication, communication.
It's in our homes, our offices, our schools, in our cars, on the blue tooth, on the jog around the savannah, on the walk up Lady Chancellor Hill, everyone's plugged in to something, whether it's music, conversation, text, video, voice message, checking the inbox or surfing the Web we are all busy, busy, busy all of the time. Sometimes (prior to curfew) when I would come down to my office early it would always amaze me to see at 5 am not just how busy it is with pedestrians around City Gate, Broadway and Independence Square, but the most amazing thing is that at that early hour of the morning, almost everybody is talking and yapping away on their cell phones.
Animated, lively, detailed and involved conversations with arms flailing and gesticulating as they speak and I always wonder-who could they be having these very intense conversations with, at this early hour of the morning? What is it we used to do before cell phones took over and controlled our lives? We clearly did not talk as much on Granny's big, old black phone or beige phone, otherwise Granny might have knocked you half-senseless with that same big, old heavy phone. Is it that we suddenly have so much more to say to each other these days that we feel the constant need to be plugged in at every orifice to the world around us?
The downside to all of this is that it inevitably makes our lives a whole lot more stressful. Sure, ease of communication facilitates business and speeds up production and processes, increases output and delivery of goods and services. But the problem is, that whether we realise it or not all we have done is speed up the treadmill several notches and we are all the little hamsters running around in that ever-increasing spinning wheel. With these increases in connectivity come the increased demands on your time and the increased pressure to deliver results and produce. Clients and customers no longer have to wait 'till the morning when your business is open for them to travel down or drive down and wait to be seen by someone in your organisation in order to make an enquiry as to the pace or progress of their business or to seek a status update.
Nooooo, they are sitting down in their pyjamas and nightgowns in the comfort of their beds and in the privacy of their homes and dashing off an email to you at two o'clock in the morning and a few hours later, by five minutes past eight they are enquiring as to why they haven't heard from you. Now, it is the right and privilege of a customer or client to make full use of the communications technology in this way but what we need to start recognising and acknowledging is that this all comes at a cost-a toll which it takes out on the human being, the real person at the end of this pressure, the real individual who has to take all the heat.
We have seen this week that our Prime Minister has fallen ill again and whatever the root cause or the result, it is clear that there is an element of stress involved and this is stress separate and apart from the normal pressures of prime ministerial office, it is the added stress that comes with being so technologically connected. There is no way she can avoid, dodge, or duck all the communication she is bombarded with as Prime Minister and there is probably much of it that she cannot ignore and must respond to or give a directive in respect of, once it comes to her attention. The same probably goes for most of our government ministers and high public officials.
The responsibility of office carries with it the responsibility to respond to the barrage of communication that comes your way on a daily basis. The same applies to the private sector and corporate boards where emails fly around the place all the time for comment, input feedback, or urgent response. You have to give your feedback, you just don't have a choice, so if it means that you're on your computer at 2 am, 3 am or 4 am responding to an office email or some board minutes circulated for round robin comment, then you just have to do it, you just have to respond.
The time may very well come when our sociologists and social scientists may have to team up and compare notes with our medical professionals as to the increased stress levels on individuals of this increasingly demanding communication and connectivity Web that we are all trapped in and the effects of this on our general health and well being. But for the meantime, while the going's good, let's keep plugged in because one day it may start to take a toll on our health and at that stage, no matter how important the communication, the text, the email or the voice message is, we would just have to give it a rest and just be unplugged.