Digital abstinence after work
It was only two hours in her life, but she suffered feelings that she did not think possible. It was the evening when Claudia Reiter forgot her mobile phone in the office. No wonder, she had fallen out of the company because her children were waiting - and she had to send an important mail to her boss on the way. As she reached into the bag in the train, she reached into the void. "I had cold sweats," recalls Reiter, who does not want to give her real name, out of fear to come out in front of colleagues. No sensible conversation was made at home, her thoughts were constantly circling around the phone: What if the boss calls? After two hours, she drove back to the office to get the smartphone.
Does it have to be that way?
Digital communication can be a blessing - but also a curse. Namely, when permanent accessibility becomes a (felt) duty. 17 percent of supervisors in studies say they expect their employees to be available around the clock. Far more of these employees, namely 60 percent, say that they can actually be reached after work. A survey of the Kassenärztlichen initiative for work and health showed that almost every second his service mails processed on vacation, holidays and on weekends.
Researchers are warning of the consequences of permanent availability, whether at work or privately. "People who devote themselves intensively to chatting, mailing and social media activities feel more stressed out by their own statements," says Leonard Reinecke, media professor at the University of Mainz. "A number of studies have also shown that it makes people ill when office communication infiltrates private life, which limits the recovery potential." The consequences: agitation, sleep disorders, at worst, depression and breakdowns.
A good balance is important
This scares meanwhile more and more companies. HR departments are working on strategies for digital relief. Daimler, for example, automatically deletes incoming emails while on vacation so that employees can really recover. At Volkswagen, the server for smartphones switches to standby after work. Bosch is developing an internal communication system so that nobody has to answer calls from America at night. The IG Metall even demands to ban mails, SMS and calls after work.
Expert Reinecke does not think much of such technical restraints. "The companies have to work in the minds of the employees and polish them off," he claims. "It has to be propagated as part of good leadership." Digital mindfulness is the keyword, the ability to find a healthy balance between real and virtual life.
For Claudia Reiter, her experience with the forgotten cell phone was a clear sign that this balance no longer existed with her. No longer did they decide on their digital devices, the devices over them. That's why Reiter did something that tech companies like Google or Facebook have regularly prescribed for their employees for some years now and that is becoming increasingly popular in German companies: They booked a "Digital Detox" coaching to analyze their professional and personal use of their mobile phones and deliberately restrict.
Everyone knows the problem
In such training - in front of which mobile phones and tablets are of course delivered, sometimes even for the duration of a whole weekend - you learn at first glance banal: that you can look in conversations in the eye instead of on the smartphone screen, for example. That you can show the others a "Do not disturb" sign if you want to concentrate on something. Or that one hears the leaves rustle during forest walks, if one is not constantly busy shooting selfies and posting. It is exactly these things that have often been forgotten by long-term display gauges. Some people find it strange to go to the office with questions to colleagues or simply postpone something for tomorrow instead of immediately sending out impersonal work instructions.
After her coaching in the office and at home, Claudia Reiter keeps it up at least by the hour without a mobile phone. She has been given a time management training so that she does not have to spend any evening shifts in the home office, but works in the office. And her family now has clear rules, because even her husband and children often stuck to the displays for hours: At least once a week, everyone meets offline in the kitchen, the cell phones are locked away during this time so that no one secretly disappears into the bathroom. One hour before going to bed, no digital device is allowed anymore, the family router is completely switched off between 9 pm and 8 am.
Deceleration is the motto
That sounds like pretty consistent methods, but Reiters coach Ulrike Stöckle emphasizes: It's not about demonizing cell phones. One should only use them more consciously.And talk more about when and how to do it. "An island life brings nothing, that is, if only you yourself disconnect, but the others continue cheerfully." After all, the fear of missing something drives many into the "always-on" mode.
Deceleration is therefore the order of the day, advise Stöckle and her colleagues. Because it is good to just switch off in between - not just the mobile phone, but also your own activity.
