Is working 24/7 a form of serfdom?

[question everything]

I have to wonder about people who are "connected" - to their work, their business, their friends "24/7."

I have to wonder whether employees, at least, feel a pressure to be on call "24/7." I think that it takes courage by an employee to turn off his/her cell phone once leaving the office - unless they promise to be available for, say, an overseas call.

I have to wonder about the loneliness of people who need to chat and to text message constantly to friends; about people who cannot wait for the plane to land so they can start chatting.

The Wall St. Journal today has a story about people getting connected even while in the bathroom:

With a BlackBerry, two mobile phones, three office computers and wireless Internet for his car, Greg Shenkman is never far from his work. But recently the CEO of San Francisco-based Exigen Group eked out more productivity by wiring the final frontier: his bathroom. When Mr. Shenkman answers the speaker-phone in his shower, the water automatically shuts off. He can open the front door for deliveries while shaving. He's also put the finishing touches on a waterproof computer that will let him answer emails from his sauna.

So it's come to this. The humble bathroom, long a place of refuge and solitude, is playing quiet host to more workplace transactions. Bathroom business has gone way beyond tapping out furtive emails on a BlackBerry. Lately, more hard-driving homeowners have converted their loos into virtual satellite workspaces, with retractable desks or waterproof touch-screen monitors. Manufacturer Acquinox of New York says sales of its steam shower/whirlpool units -- a hands-free phone is standard in each -- nearly tripled last year to 14,800 modules. Wisconsin-based Seura, meanwhile, reports rising sales of its vanity mirrors, which feature LCD screens in the glass. The mirrors, starting at $2,400, let users check their tie-knot, then flip a switch to watch the embedded TV.

From http://online.wsj.com/page/2_0133.html (subscription)

[niyad]

1. bathroom is sanctuary and haven--these people are nuts.

[benburch]

2. Heh... I work 24/7...

I own a small business.

[Catch22Dem]

4. I was just going to make the same comment

Not that I own a business, but business owners are "connected" to their work 24/7.

[JDPriestly]

12. So are professionals.

We are always on call if a client or patient needs something. There are always those professional magazines and articles to read. I think about my work every day. There is never a day that I don't theorize about one of my cases.

[question everything]

5. I was wondering more about employees, who have to do this

just to keep their jobs.

But even as a business owner - do you like it that way? Do you feel that you have to be connected 24/7 just to remain competitive? Would you still do this if everyone else stopped?

This is like working during a Holiday - we had a thread about it some months ago. One business stays open and the others have to do follow through. Retail stores and restaurants, mostly.

And I have to wonder whether people who stay connected all the time - whether of their own choice or not - can ever take time to just.. hear the sound of silence.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. When I owned a small business, the work never stopped

I was on from the minute I awoke to the minute I went to sleep. Several cell phones, fax machines, e-mail, it never ended. God I like working for someone else. 3:00 p.m. and I don't even answer the phone.

[guruoo]

6. BTDT

[question everything]

10. LOL (nt)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. I was recently laid off from a job where I had to keep the Nextel

on 24/7. For 4 long years. I didn't realize how tied down I was.


I now feel sooooo free! :woohoo:

[question everything]

11. Sorry about the loss of your job

It does not seem as if we have much choice these days, do we?

Hope you can find something better with more humane conditions.

[dweller]

8. ...

dp

[MatrixEscape]

9. That is downright BIONIC!

It reminds me of the Borg, (Star Trek: TNG). So is he now really in charge of his life or is he just a biological aspect of something that uses him as part of an electronic collective? Would he know? Or does that kind of connection allow him to maintain an illusion of being and individual.

I think we are seeing a glimpse of the darker part of our potential future here. Oh, well, not us poor folk who will be digging for crumbs and turned into Soylent Green, that is. We won't have to worry about being connected, we will just die out because we will be totally, and finally, disconnected.

We really MUST comply because it is getting more obvious each day that our resistance is futile.

[Yollam]

13. Serfdom or not, it is detrimental to mental health.

A lot of the people who live in this way are relatively well-paid, so I don't know about serfdom, but I personally would not want to earn a lot of money if it required being shackled to a cell and laptop 24/7.

It's important for NORMAL humans to have time to be alone with their thoughts, to contemplate in silence.

But then there are the ones who LIKE it that way, who jabber constantly on their cell phones, whether work-related or social, they go on and on about the most inane things. I see them on the bus, updating the person on the other end as they pass each stop. I see them jabbering in the supermarket, asking the person on the other end which flavor of ice cream they should get.

There are the people with a TV in every room of their house. I just don't get it. I could afford several TV's, but we have one. It's 29', which once would've been pretty big, but I guess that's modest now.

I don't get what it is that compels these people to be so plugged into technology 24/7, and so completely disconnected from the rhythms of nature, and even real humanity.

Some of them put on an attitude like they think others must envy them.

I just pity them.

[question everything]

14. You have expressed very well my thoughts

and the reasons that triggered me to start this thread.

I think that people who are constantly on their cell phone are people who are afraid to be alone with their thoughts. Are of low self esteem who need the constant assurance they they do have friends who want to chat with them.

And when many voters do not even bother to go to city halls because they can follow the proceedings on TV or download them - one has to wonder about people's sense of community and responsibility to each other. I think that communicating with others only via email and cell phone will result in millions of individuals and not many communities.