My No, 1 New Year’s resolution is to disconnect –– at least partially.
That’s easier said than done because as of now, there is absolutely no disconnect.
I feel compelled to check my phone for emails every few minutes and respond immediately.
We are all attached to our cell phones, tablets or similar electronic devices 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s an extension of our bodies.
I actually tried not to pick up my phone while writing this article.
Four sentences in and a New Year’s resolution broken.
This year’s resolution may be the toughest yet.
Advances in technology are a great thing for business for a multitude of reasons.
On the other hand, it can and will lead to a much more stressful life outside the office.
We are all aware of the high rate of lawyer burnout. Do we really need to add more fuel to that fire?
At the end of the day, we leave the office, but we never really seem to leave work.
Many of us send work-related emails well into the evening hours. Unfortunately, many of us and our clients also expect immediate responses.
Why? Because everyone knows that everyone else is accessible at all hours.
If we take longer than 24 hours to respond to someone, including on weekends, many of us feel compelled to apologize for not getting back to that person sooner. That should not be the case.
Even doing a partial disconnect will require baby steps. Giving it up cold turkey only invites failure.
My wife, Lindsay, and I are constantly on our phones, whether it’s at dinner, watching a movie or one of our favorite TV shows or while lying in bed.
Even when we’re out to dinner with friends, all of us have our phones out on the table ready to immediately answer a call or check an email.
There is no disconnect. It’s a problem.
I guess recognizing the problem is step one. The next step is doing something about it.
No more phone at dinner. No more phone at bedtime. No more phone while spending time with our daughter, Salem.
Speaking of Salem, at 21 months old, she knows how to navigate an iPhone and iPad better than many adults.
She learned it by watching us being attached to our phones like a dog attached to a leash.
She loves her YouTube videos. When a text message pops up while she’s watching one of her favorite videos on the phone, she knows how to swipe the text out of the way.
She knows how to scroll through the video choices and select the one she wants to watch. When there’s an ad before the video begins, she knows how to click the “skip ad” button.
On one hand, it’s great that she’s learning at such a young age, but on the other, I’m scared to death. Is she becoming as addicted as we are?
The big difference: she is not even 2 years old.
Some countries are in the process of taking steps to allow their citizens to have the “right to disconnect.”
For example, as of Jan. 1, many French workers have a “right to disconnect.”
A new labor law requires businesses with 50 or more employees to negotiate after-hours email rules with their employees, potentially giving them the right to ignore late night messages.
If management and staff cannot agree, the firm must publish a charter to define and regulate when employees should be able to disconnect.
“These measures are designed to ensure respect for rest periods and balance between work and family and personal life,” the Ministry of Labor said in a statement.
We all should try to follow a similar path.
There certainly will be exceptions, such as being in trial or getting ready for significant hearings or depositions.
However, those situations should be the exception and not the rule.
I wish you the best in keeping your New Year’s resolutions and Happy 2017!
Fraz Ahmed is a partner with the Law Offices of Eric S. Block