Millennials Would Quit Job If Phones Were Banned At Work

[marmar]

Published on Aug 23, 2015

"Many millennials have never known a world without mobile devices. Now employers are forced to deal with younger workers who want to be able to text and use social media on the job. 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan looks at how this group is blurring the lines between work time and personal time.

Twenty-five-year-old Jonathan Perez always has his smartphone by his side at work. He says it makes juggling his job and his personal life easier. In fact, younger workers have spent most of their life with mobile technology at their fingertips and according to a new survey from MobilIron most don’t want to stop texting or using social media at work. Sixty percent of workers 18-34 say if their boss prevented them from using a mobile device to take care of personal tasks, they would quit!"


http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/07/08/3-on-your-side-many-millennials-would-quit-if-not-allowed-to-do-personal-tasks-at-work/

[yeoman6987]

1. Wow. Definite addiction issues.

If the boss says no phone I guess it is your right to quit, but what if your next company bans them too. Eventually you will need to put away the phone or never get ahead.

[roscoeroscoe]

30. Hot topic for my wife

She's convinced I'm addicted to my cell phone...

But I'm always on D U, so is it OK?

[PoliticAverse]

86. Depends, do you drive a bus, train, or airplane for a living?... n/t

[roscoeroscoe]

109. Luckily no!

Just busted for reading on the loo.

[liberal N proud]

2. I say let them...

They will get hungry and need to work.

If the phone is necessary as part of their job, then they should be allowed to use the phone, but otherwise, turn it off and put it away. You can't focus on your work when you are reading and answering texts all day long or checking on Facebook.

Maybe they would learn that they don't have to have it permanently attached to their hands when they get in the car then.

[hunter]

64. Most work sucks.

Ninety percent of everything is crap.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law

I have a list of non-crap work and your work probably isn't on it.

[liberal N proud]

88. If you got to play with really fast computers and design new things would you still think it sucked

Unless you work in the sewer, all work has its rewards. You don't need to be connected to the cell phone to survive.

[hunter]

99. Heh, the computers I divert from the electronic waste streams...

... far surpass the powers of the supercomputers of my University of California Berkeley-Los Angeles-Santa Barbara days.

Work "in the sewer" is actually more rewarding than some crap job at Microsoft/Apple/Amzaon and any other big bullshit corporation. Recycling sewage into fresh water is important.

So, what are you doing with those "really fast" computers? Is it more fun than the stuff I do, for free, with mine?

The only people I know who are having more fun with computers than me are receiving and digesting data from Pluto, Mars, and other far away places.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

3. This is an problem at all levels of employment

It's a problem from the professional class all the way down to the kid working at Burger King.

[marym625]

4. Wow!

Good reason to hire us older folks

[enlightenment]

6. Yep. n/t

[KT2000]

54. our local hospital

prefers older workers for this very reason. That and the fact they have to "learn" that one is expected to show up every day.

[marym625]

106. That's awesome

Us older people are the best

That's really great.

[LiberalElite]

71. Yep. More jobs for us

then they can whine about boomers some more.

[marym625]

107. eh, let em whine.

We rock!

[Brickbat]

5. The line between work and off time has been blurring for some time. If employers expect employees to

answer after-hours emails and calls -- and many do -- then they need to be comfortable with people taking care of personal messages while at work.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

11. Salaried employees generally have more leeway

because as you say, many are working after hours with no extra pay.

[fishwax]

108. indeed.

[Taitertots]

7. I laugh at people who view this as a problem

I'm not going to apologize for prioritizing my friends and family over my employer.

[snooper2]

8. Next time you are waiting for your car to get pulled out of the bay at Discount Tire

Even though it is sitting there with new tires ready to go...


I'm sure the Manager and Employee will get right with you after they get done responding to some facebook posts about the party they went to last night. What is another 10-15 minute wait anyway

[cleanhippie]

9. Because Facebooking with friends and Family should take priority over work while at work, amirite?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

10. You're serous about that?

Maybe you should ask your friends and family to write you a paycheck.

[Taitertots]

35. No need. My employer isn't a douche bag so I use my phone whenever I want

[cleanhippie]

38. You're right, it's not your employer being the DB.

[Taitertots]

40. I'm eating up your jealously with a spoon

[OilemFirchen]

44. You have a boss?

Who the fuck would be jealous of that?

[cleanhippie]

50. Lol, all the while making my point!

Great job.

[Taitertots]

60. You have no point. You're just being a jelly belly because I don't have to follow..,

Your made up rules governing at work behavior.

Its super hilarious because I've been consistently promoted over people who thought our employer cares about how often I text/call/Facebook at work.

[BuelahWitch]

101. He didn't make up the rules. A lot of employers have "no phones on the job"

rules, especially if you work with the public. I've worked in call centers where coworkers were fired for diddling on their phones during (or even between) calls.

[Brickbat]

12. Pretty sure everyone responding has never taken a phone call at work from a friend or family member

about plans after work. Ever.

[closeupready]

34. Oh I know. One place from years ago, some staff would spend ALL day

talking to their sisters, mothers, planning weddings, etc., on land lines. Day after day, year after year. All this self-righteousness here ... give me a break.

[Codeine]

73. One of the anti-cellphone brigade at our store

must get ten calls a day from her layabout adult children. Then she bitches at me when somebody spends three seconds texting "dude let's get pizza after work" to a friend.

[liberal N proud]

89. I can't get cell reception in my office.

So, that would be NO!

[WillowTree]

103. There's a big difference between taking or making the occasional personal phone call.......

.......or sending a text once in awhile and hanging out on Facebook and/or Twitter (or DU, for that matter). And few employers in my experience will hassle a good employer for the infrequent personal interruption. But unless you're self-employed, your employer is paying for your time. Using that time to play online is stealing. Eventually that kind of thing catches up with those employees who let themselves believe that they're so entitled.

[CajunBlazer]

14. What do you call prioritizing?

If a member of family or one of your friends is sick or have been in accident, or if something equally important has come up, then sure, tend to that and then get back to work. No problem.

However, if the text concerns what Joan was wearing last night or whether you want to attend a party Saturday, then no, you are not being paid to socialize while doing your job.

Given that probably 95% to 98% of texts and other uses of cell phone of the fall into the second category rather than the first, using your phone when you should be working should be an exception not the rule. If you don't like it go find another job. And good luck finding one where they will let you play with your phone all day. Grow up, you are not entitled.

[Taitertots]

32. No need to look. I've already got one.

"entitled" LOL.
Your jealously is showing.

[CajunBlazer]

110. Not Jealous at All

I work from home with virtually no supervision from by boss who trust me implicitly to do my job. All I need to do my job is my work laptop and a phone. However, I earned that trust with many years of dedicated service. Most of the young folks who have anxiety attacks when separated from their cell phones for more than ten minutes have not yet earned that level of trust in their work environments. Congratulations if you have.

[LiberalElite]

70. Keep laughing when you get that pink slip nt

[Taitertots]

74. LOL. The stuff you think is important is meaningless

I just got a raise. I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

[LiberalElite]

76. Kid, (and I do mean KID) You don't know half of what you think you know nt

[Taitertots]

81. Wah wah wah. The terrible youths don't respect my antiquated value system

And they are rewarded for it.

The stuff you think is important is irrelevant. The behaviors you think are bad are actually ignored.

[Drahthaardogs]

100. On work time? Seriously?

Wow.

[NickB79]

111. You think Facebooking is the same as prioritizing your friends and family? LOL

I've found quite the opposite: the more I use social media, the more DISTANT I become from my friends and family. Actual face-to-face time falls off rapidly, and I feel worse, not better.

And taking a 1-minute call every few days from my wife on the lab phone to pick up bread and milk isn't the same as looking at your smartphone every 10 minutes daily.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Silly to ban smart phones

These days I have my company email sent to my phone so I can better keep in touch.

This is the world we live in, the old workplace paradigms are dying. Workers expect to be task oriented and to be judged on how well they do their job, not whether or not they check their phone. I'm in executive meetings all the time where the most senior members of management are checking their phones constantly. It's just the way it is now. For the people that report to me, I could care less if they check their phones every 2 minutes, all I am interested in is if they complete their tasks on time, correctly, and within budget. I've got good metrics to tell me how they are performing, doesn't matter if they check their phones often or if they choose to work 10-6:30 rather than the 8-4:30 I choose to work. Some of my best producers work from home, so they could be checking their phones all day long for all I care.

[CajunBlazer]

17. You work in a professional environment...

Many of these kids are just starting out in job market and not doing jobs where they need to be in constant communications to get their jobs done. In such situations you can bet that none of the phone checking is work related and almost all is not necessary.

[Johnny2X2X]

18. So what?

Last edited Mon Aug 24, 2015, 12:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Judge them on the amount and the quality of the work that they do. This need to control every second of a worker's day is out dated. There's a reason productivity is at an all time high, maybe people being able to stay in touch with the world is a positive part of that.

And even in our production environment, we don't want worker bees, we want thinkers who use creativity to make their jobs easier and better.

[Blue_Adept]

19. Uh, millenials are not just kids?

Millennials (whom we define as between ages 18 to 34 in 2015) are projected to number 75.3 million, surpassing the projected 74.9 million Boomers (ages 51 to 69). The Gen X population (ages 35 to 50 in 2015) is projected to outnumber the Boomers by 2028.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

26. The idea that people in their 30's are "millenials" is ridiculous

Last edited Mon Aug 24, 2015, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)

The upbringing and life experiences of someone who is now in their thirties looked a whole lot more like mine (an X'er) than someone who is a few years younger.

[Blue_Adept]

27. You realize it's a generation attribute?

The Lost Generation, also known as the Generation of 1914 in Europe,[20] is a term originating with Gertrude Stein to describe those who fought in World War I. The members of the lost generation were typically born between 1883 and 1900.

The Greatest Generation, also known as the G.I. Generation, is the generation that includes the veterans who fought in World War II. They were born from around 1901 through 1924, coming of age during the Great Depression. Journalist Tom Brokaw dubbed this the Greatest Generation in a book of the same name.[21]

The Silent Generation, also known as the Lucky Few, were born from 1925 until 1942.[22] It includes some who fought in World War II, most of those who fought the Korean War and many during the Vietnam War.

The Baby Boomers are the generation that was born following World War II, generally from the early 1940s up to the early 1960s, a time that was marked by an increase in birth rates.[23] The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context.

Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western Post–World War II baby boom. Demographers, historians and commentators use birth dates ranging from the early 1960s to the early 1980s.

Millennials, also known as the Millennial Generation,[32] or Generation Y, is the demographic cohort following Generation X. Commentators use birth dates ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.[33][34][35]

Generation Z refers to the cohort of people born after the Millennial Generation. There is no agreement on the exact name or birth dates of the generation with some sources starting it at the mid or late 1990s[32] or the more widely used period from the mid 2000s[36] to the present day.

And within my generation, X, there's a difference between those born in the 60's and those born in the 70's with what we experienced growing up. But we're still the same generation.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

53. Generations have never been mere tranches

All of those in their colloquial use imply a sense of shared experience.

[treestar]

59. True it goes both ways

you end up dealing with work on personal time. The point is good about the blurring. That seems to be the effect of these devices and the internet.

[RadiationTherapy]

15. Communication is a positive.

It increases morale. It provides vast networks of information available at a touch. If it seems like a distraction, it is no more so than a window or a daydream.

[LanternWaste]

33. Or Candy Crush and Angry Birds

"If it seems like a distraction, it is no more so than a window or a daydream...."

Or Candy Crush and Angry Birds.

[RadiationTherapy]

41. Angry birds is different from daydreaming?

I don't think so. It is also presumptuous of one's work ethic. All tools can be toys in the hands of those determined to play around. I would call smart phones indispensable. They can hold a handbook of chemistry and physics, a list of instructions for an important job, emergency instructions for a person with medical issues, contact with a loved one on a terrible day. I can go on and on. I know many people are determined to draw arbitrary lines in the sand when it comes to technology, but I am here to argue with those people.

[JustAnotherGen]

16. I work at a wireless provider - hq

To me - I read this and all I see is -

KA CHING!

[GreatGazoo]

20. Pay them by output, not by hours.

[Orrex]

21. Meaningless.

Unless they're on an assembly line or otherwise performing repetitive, easly counted work, then paying them by output is simply another way of saying "pay them shit and make them thank you for it."

[Orrex]

22. We should publicly flog them until they repent in shame.

Anything less is a waste of time.

[Solly Mack]

23. I'm OK with that. I'm in my 50's.

Technology brings with it new ways of thinking. Of seeing things. Why wouldn't it bring on a new work ethic?

And it's just not technology. Work/employment hasn't exactly been loyal to the worker. It isn't even a guarantee of better things to come.

It is necessary - but then so is a life worth living. For those coming up in a world of instant access and one touch does it all, being connected matters. A lot.

Maybe they will be happier in the work place because they are happier in their social/home life.

I was born way too soon.

[FLPanhandle]

36. +1

I'm also in my 50's and I agree completely.

[Solly Mack]

49. I also don't think it's a matter of wanting it all - but wanting more and wanting it better.

So often, the person telling you life isn't fair is the person most responsible for creating the unfairness you're experiencing. They're chiding you the same way they, themselves, were chided when they said something wasn't fair.

Cogs in the machine that perpetuate the very unfairness they all too willing accept and pass on - and they mimic what others said before them, "Life's unfair".

Well, maybe life could be more fair if people stopped accepting what someone told them about the "ways things have always been" and worked toward how things could be.

Bad things happen and such has nothing to do with fair or unfair - but too much of what is unfair has been created by people. People whose only answer to the problem is "Life's unfair" - which isn't an answer at all. It's an acceptance of the flawed with no thought to making it better.

Maybe the younger generation is no longer willing to accept those bromides that are supposed to pass for wisdom.

I hope so, anyway.

[LiberalElite]

72. kind of hard to see this as

a "work" ethic.

[Solly Mack]

82. Well, maybe. But then maybe it is for some.

If I defined a work ethic with my parents thinking then it isn't.

It's not the idea of a work ethic for many people. It's not what I was taught.

Doesn't mean it isn't a work ethic. Just means it is a different work ethic.

A different take on how working should be - the relationship between worker and management, worker/productivity, the relationship between work and social/home/life.

There's a difference between having the phone at work and still getting the job done, and using the phone to the exclusion of the job.

I trust people to know the difference. And if they don't, I'm sure the expected will happen. (firing)

I trust the generations coming after me. Sure, I roll my eyes from time to time but, by and large, I marvel at the world they will grow up, and old, in.

I'm sure those that came before me complained about my generation. In fact, I know they did.

[LiberalElite]

83. Reminds me of this from Bye Bye Birdie - (circa 1960)

[Solly Mack]

87. I used to know every song in the movie.

Long, long ago.

[LiberalElite]

91. The telephone song is a classic

[Solly Mack]

92. I'll be singing those songs the rest of the night! lol

Thank you!!

[LiberalElite]

93. They actually pop into my head

sometimes - something happens and I remember....

[LanternWaste]

24. My company doesn't allow anyone except management to bring phones into the office

My company doesn't allow anyone except management to bring phones into the office. Past instances of CC numbers being photographed via smartphone and then used illicitly on their own time, and workers attempting to surreptitiously take upskirt pictures of other workers (three workers had a contest last year to see who could accumulate the most) pretty much sealed that particular policy in cement.

But, as each worker in the co. has a phone on our desks and in our offices, nothing of any real importance is lost-- other than righteous indignation.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

25. Our problem with millennials isn't that they text or check facebook

It's that they're more often than not utter and complete assholes who bring a cool kids clique mentality into the workforce.

[Blue_Adept]

29. Do they walk on your lawn too?

[FLPanhandle]

31. The millennials at our firm are great and hard working.

People have been bitching about the younger generation forever.

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise." ― Socrates

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

37. I didn't say they weren't hard working

I said they bring "Mean Girl" bullshit to work with them. The office isn't a party clique and you're going to have to deal with people who just aren't as cool as you.

[FLPanhandle]

42. That's not just Millennial's, that's standard human nature

Put any large group of humans together and they will form sub-groups based on those most like themselves.

Been happening since humans came together in large enough groups. Hard to blame this generation. Cliques have been part of school, work, clubs, etc. forever.

[Orrex]

46. No one would ever have done that in previous decades

Millennials have desecrated the sanctity of polite human discourse.
However shall society endure?

[Codeine]

66. Forsooth!

Hast thou not lain eyes upon yon calendar? 'Tis 1697, whilst your attire doth bespeak 1696.

[RadiationTherapy]

43. I am a 13 year uni staff member. I have employed and worked with hundreds

of millennials for thousands of hours. I do not have the impression you are portraying.

[snagglepuss]

58. Blame lays squarely on your HR as they hired the rotters.

In my experience many HR people tend to be overly impressed with the attitude you describe

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

102. If only you knew how right you are

HR isn't just part of the problem, they're the worst embodiment of it in the whole company. HR is first and foremost a party clique.

[FLPanhandle]

28. I'm in my 50's and I wouldn't tolerate a workplace ban on smart phones

As long as a person is geeting their job done, who cares? It takes a few seconds to respond to a text from family/friends. It's less intrusive and faster than getting a personal phone call on an office phone.

[olddots]

39. This doesn't bother me

I was put out of work because of these devises .

[Xithras]

45. Heh. My daughter got fired from her first job for this.

My daughters first job was working as a cashier at Best Buy. Her, and her coworkers, kept getting warned about using their cellphones at work, but the'd just use them anyway when he wasn't around.

One day her boss used the security cameras to scan the store for a few hours and identified the employees who were still using their phones. When he was done, he walked out and fired seven of them on the spot.

She didn't get a whole lot of sympathy from me. If you're at work, you shouldn't be on your phone. If you're at work AND YOUR BOSS HAS WARNED YOU TO STAY OFF THE PHONE, then you really shouldn't be on your phone. If you ignore your bosses warning and get fired, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

[Rex]

47. Take away their iphones and they just end up using the PCs web browser.

Make them feel like misbehaving children - and they will start acting like children. Losing battle imo, if they spend so much time on the phone that it affects their workload - then usually a pink slip ends up in their records as they look for another place to work.

Been my experience and if I was an asshole, I could really get a lot of people at work in trouble. All I have to do is show by boss their browsing history! No thanks, since I get to make those kind of rules - as long as you can do your job I don't care what you do that day. Just no warez or porn on the company PCs and I am happy. Start getting shit like malware on my workstations and we WILL have a problem. Blab away on the phone, if you think you can handle it and your daily workload. Good luck.

Worked great for 6 years now.

[Gormy Cuss]

48. Well, that's what they said, not necessarily what they'd do.

Note that the link URL describes it as not allowed to do personal tasks at work. Long before 24/7 connectivity via mobile devices employers had to deal with that issue. In some environments, dealing with personal tasks was okay as long as it didn't interfere with getting the work done. In others, employers impose harsh penalties in the mistaken belief that employees could always shut off their personal lives for eight or more hours each workday.

In my anecdotal experience, the former approach made for more productive workers overall (yeah, there are always a few idiots who yak or text all shift and don't do the job adequately, but they're the ones who get the privilege revoked or in the worse case, get fired.)

People who work on production lines or have jobs where they are using media devices obviously can't have unfettered access to personal media and do the job. My brother is on a production line and the rule is that mobile devices must be off because a moment's distraction by someone on the job could lead to a catastrophic accident. Employees use their phones on breaks.

[Orrex]

52. Lots of studies have supported exactly what you're describing

Students of all ages are shown to have better retention and productivity if they're allowed to doodle and even daydream during oh-so-important school lessons. As you note, there has to be some moderation, but an ironclad prohibition is tyrannical and counter-productive. It's hardly surprising that a similar trend should be evident in a professional environment.

My department has about a dozen millennials, all of whom are on their phones constantly and all of whom are every bit as productive and capable as any of the Gen X'ers or Boomers in the group.

[One_Life_To_Give]

51. So long to Fresh Fish

Probably put an end to some Park Service and Forestry Jobs as well I guess. Although in the short term some of us boomers are thinking these out of contact places are slices of Heaven. Times do change.

[daredtowork]

55. Well they probably won't find it easy to support themselves

Once they quit. Despite the advocacy and promotion, an outsider observer can see the how cellphones promote short attention spans. They are also probably a security risk at many jobs. Why pay an IT department so much money to lock down desktops if info is just going to be uploaded and leaked out over phones?

Since this is an integrated lifestyle issue, though, hardline doesn't seem a smart way to go. Developing HR rules seems smarter.

[muntrv]

56. Are there a lot of incidents like the scene in "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle"

where Kumar is interviewing for med school and answers his cell phone and talks about smoking weed?

[GoCubsGo]

57. Meanwhile, they refuse to hire us over-50 old farts.

I'll happily take their job when they quit. And, I will actually do it, instead of playing on a smart phone all day.

[hunter]

61. Baby boomer me would love to have a job where phones were banned.

In my imaginary utopia there are no phones. People are well paid to crawl through biting bug jungles to bring me messages on paper, most of which I casually discard.

My parents have achieved that in a small way, but I'll probably have to retire as a crazy off my meds homeless dude, the sort who bites people who bring me unwelcome messages.

[Starry Messenger]

62. I have to use mine to do work when the site's network goes down.

School.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. Oh, goody, Now I know how to GET THEM OFF MY LAWN!

Except, I need them to help me log on to AOL when i forget my password.

Damn.

[Codeine]

65. Our old boss tried to ban cellphone use.

It was always an uphill battle resulting in increased sneakiness and people hiding in the restroom to text.

Now I run the place and I pretty much let people do what they need/want to do with their phones provided they do it quickly and efficiently. A quick text here and there is really not a big deal. If someone was truly abusive and let their workrate suffer as a result of phone use then I'd make that person put the phone away, but it hasn't been an issue so far.

Texting is actually a pretty smooth way to manage your personal life and have a bit of social interaction while not impacting your actual work. Most people can bang out a text in a couple of seconds and get back to whatever they were doing.

[Dwayne Hicks]

67. Times change

Its pretty much a fact of life now that smartphones and social media are a part of everyday life. As another poster pointed out, this idea of having your employer micromanage your workday is outdated. Treating employees like adults instead of children goes a long way to creating a happier more productive environment. Employers are just going to have accept it and conform to it.

[olddots]

68. how can you be two places at once

when you're really no place at all ? sing along yeah you can use auto tune if you like .

[PowerToThePeople]

69. I do not use my phone at work

I guess I have the thought that while you are getting paid to work, you should be working.



I do use my phone on breaks and lunch though.

[Codeine]

75. I'm amused by a group of internet-addicted message board junkies

passing judgment on smartphone users.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

84. I don't recall ever posting to a blog from work, during work hours.

I did play darts at work occasionally, though, while trying to talk through bugs or design issues with one of the other coders. The boss would wander through, but I don't think he ever joined us in a game.

[riderinthestorm]

77. I've got five employees and they can text and talk when they want

one of them is 30 yrs old and has young children so I know it's comforting to be able to stay in touch all day. One is 65 and likes to snapchat and Instagram with his grandkids all day which I find hilarious. The two millennials - 19 and 23 yrs old - are doing the usual social media thing on and off all day while the fifth is the other trainer here and is conducting her business hard core with her phone.

Nobody abuses it. It doesn't take up that much time. It isn't a source of tension with them trying to sneak it. They know I know how long it takes to do chores or weed whack the fence lines or scrub troughs or do a 30 minute conditioning set. If they put more hours down on their time card then the task assigned would take, I'll come find them and have a convo about excessive phone use. But that hasn't happened yet...

I'm totally okay with it and don't expect anyone to give it up. In fact, I think we all get more laughs each day sharing a funny video, or a particularly silly photo Feliciano has snapped of us, or the joy of watching the five month old baby nursing and drifting off to sleep in Fermin's wife's arms. It's enriched my workplace.

If you have a job that requires concentration like a production line, or a nurse, or cab driver etc then that's different. Rules have to be made and followed about cell phone use.

For the rest? Welcome to new world baby!

[KentuckyWoman]

80. THIS

[KentuckyWoman]

78. It's more efficient.

A 4 second text to handle a family situation is a lot more efficient than having a family member call the main line for the business and have to pass through a couple hands to get to whoever they are calling.

[Codeine]

94. Precisely.

I can conduct five different conversations AND work while a person doing things the Good Old-Fashioned Way would be stuck to a land line for an hour.

[kcr]

79. Good

Maybe they'll be the generation that fights to get the middle class back. The previous ones piddled it away. Worker's rights? What are they?

[Go Vols]

90. My 26 year old kid

has workers rights,and they include insurance,pension,annuity,vacation,ect.

He does not carry a cell phone at work as he is not paid to talk on the phone.

[kcr]

104. Well. Good for your 26 year old son.

You'd have a point if that were the norm. But it isn't. So, you don't.

[Go Vols]

105. ty

[malaise]

85. They would also rather die than not talk on said phone while

driving, using a pedestrian crossing, walking between cars in carparks, in lecture halls, libraries, funeral services, conferences, etc. etc.

[Codeine]

95. Nobody talks on a smartphone anymore.

We text, like God and Nature intended.

[malaise]

98. LOL - texting and talking

but texting and walking or driving is soooooooooooooo cool.

One of my favorites

[leftyladyfrommo]

112. I still haven't really figured out how to answer

On my smartphone. And disconnecting sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

So I text most of the time. It's easier and takes less time than a call. And I have a record of what was said

[Coventina]

96. Yep. Living in your own world is great, but ignoring the real one is risky.

[RedCappedBandit]

97. Lots of bullshit ageism in this thread, unsurprisingly.

I'd be interested to see a study of workplace efficiency by age. I highly doubt there is a significant difference in productivity between generations. As if people just worked nonstop all day every day without ever taking a breather before cell phones existed.

[olddots]

113. self sufficiency ?

our lonelyness grows as the population grows .Oh but thats complaining to the wind .