Have you ever been in a meeting, or at dinner, or merely hanging out with friends, only to be interrupted by someone taking a phone call or replying to a text message right in the middle of a conversation? If you’re one of the 73% of Canadians who find this behaviour distasteful, you’re not alone.
According to a Randstad Canada survey, 68% of people prefer face-to-face communication over other forms of technological interaction, despite the fact that nearly half of Canadians (47%) own a smartphone, and 13% have a work-issued device.
Many workers also say that they go out of their way to ignore emails and incoming calls for a period of time every day. 42% of those surveys admitted to seeking shelter from the constant barrage of pings and rings. However nearly half of Canadians take care of personal business at work, and even more try to get work done during private time. A similar number admit to doing some amount of work when on vacation.
Three quarters of those surveyed say they have internet access at work, and of those over 60% of them admit to it being a distraction. With Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and myriad other potential distractions, many billions of dollars are estimated to be lost in productivity every year due to errant internet usage.
Most importantly, though, 75% of those surveyed say that they receive more emails, phone calls and text messages every day than they can handle, leading to a sense of being out of control and flustered. While there is no doubt technology at work, and the advent of the smartphone when away from the office, has been a boon to productivity, it has come at the expense of our emotional (and sometimes physical) wellbeing.
Read more of the Randstad survey over at their website.
Source: CNW
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