5 Technologies That Hurt Your Work Life Balance

There is no question that technology plays an important role in today’s world and it has opened many doors of opportunity for people. As a software developer, I essentially rely on technology to provide for my family.

However, have you ever stopped to question how technology may be having a negative impact on your ability to find a healthy work life balance? When you think of how technology has helped so many people and made so many tasks easier to complete, it is easy to overlook how it truly influences your life.

Here are five technologies/tools that may be hurting your work life balance:

• Cellphones. Having a cellphone means that you are rarely stranded somewhere without a way to contact someone for assistance. It is a great convenience to be able to call someone when either party is away from their home. However, carrying a cellphone also means that work can contact you when you are away from the office. Before people of all ages were carrying cellphones, when you left the office you were away from the office. Sure your boss could call your home phone but if you were outside playing with the kids or at the store that call went unanswered. Now that you can be reached no matter where you are or what you are doing, it is more difficult to disconnect from work.

• Blackberry, iPhone, etc. While similar to the cellphone, I think devices such as the Blackberry and iPhone deserve special mention. When you have a cellphone, you can answer the call and explain to work that you are away from a computer and cannot reply to that email or look into that problem. But when you have a Blackberry or iPhone, you can now connect to your email and other applications that make it feasible to do work no matter where you are located. There is an expectation that responses will be more immediate because your work is literally right at your fingertips at all times.

• Laptops. I’m sure that I am not the only person that has taken their laptop along on the family vacation. Laptops afford you the ability to have full access to all of your work while you are away from the office. When you have a desktop computer, you are not expected to lug your machine around with you but the mobility of a laptop encourages people to stay connected. Trains, planes, and automobiles - you can literally work anywhere. Throw in a wifi connection and you have opened the door to working anywhere, anytime.

• Email. I’m a huge fan of email - to be quite honest I would prefer to send an email rather than talk on the phone in many instances. However, email is like a magician and has an uncanny ability for making time disappear. Think of how much time you spend each and every day simply reading and sending email messages. I am sure that I am not the only person that has said to my kids, “I’ll be there in a minute, just let me send this email.” An hour later I find myself still reading and sending email messages. Now, wouldn’t that time be better spent being productive so you can complete your work sooner thus allowing more time to address your life balance?

• Instant Messaging. Similar to email, instant messaging may be impacting your work life balance by reducing your productivity therefore causing you to work longer. It is easy to become distracted from your work when someone sends you a message. If you are not careful with the use of instant messaging, you may find that your tasks take longer to complete due to the constant interruptions.

As I mentioned earlier, I rely on almost all of these tools on a daily basis and would have a difficult time without them. As a matter of fact, using these tools has afforded me the ability to work from home and be more flexible so that I can do things like attend my son’s baseball game or stay home with a sick child.

However, technology has made it so easy to stay connected to work that it can consume the precious time that you do have to spend with your family. All it takes is an email sent to your Blackberry that results in you using your laptop to connect to work and your vacation has quickly turned into you working from a very nice remote office.

These technologies are here to stay and I think that is a good thing. Just be careful not to let them take over your life and have a negative impact on your work life balance.