While psychologist Maryann Troiani may be right that ‘ even when you’re alone, there are too many ways that the world can intrude on you and vice versa – cell phones, e-mail, voice mail. Bookmarking interesting stories, videos or tunes on both Tweetie and Evernote, the latter being an application that helps me remember what to do instead of relaxing, while I should be relaxing. Recently, I have even started pre-empting my lost downtime. But mostly because I was waiting for my wife to come back from a shopping excursion and, rather than relaxing and enjoying the ambiance of the bustling market, I was mid-way through a record attempt on the game reMovem. ‘Oh, well do you mind if I ask you a quick question about Fair Usage Policies?’ (the irony seemingly totally lost on the caller) I’m standing in the Djemaa el Fna in Marrakesh.’
‘Hi, are you working today? Your ‘out of office’ says you’re out.’ I’ve actually had conversations with clients that go something like this: Whereas a couple of years ago, I might have taken a computer to deal with a specific issue or in case of chronic emergency, now it seems natural to say things like ‘I’m on holiday next week, actually, but I’ll be keeping an eye on my emails, so just call me when you’ve sent me that report to review’. I’ve noticed recently that a lot of my colleagues and friends are taking laptops and smartphones on their holidays. Next, one of two things will happen, either I will take a photo or video and publish it somewhere or email it to a friend or I will find something else on my iPhone to fill the time. Out for a walk, enjoying some relaxing time with my family, I’ll actually really be enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Not just walking from one desk to another. I even get twitchy (‘twitteritchy’?) walking. I mean, why would anyone actually want to run anywhere, unless it was auto-tracked and published online, without even wasting time clicking a button? I’m pretty certain that without the dulcet tones of the robo-voice on RunKeeper on my iPhone, telling me to go faster and mapping my route and velocity as I go, I wouldn’t bother running 3 or 4 times a week. This online-ability is not just infiltrating my sporting relaxation time, it’s driving it now. But now, because the internet, and its capacity to bring me almost everything I think I could need to stimulate my brain, is never really more than a pocket lining away from me – they are not. Most would have been downtime 18 months ago. Time in the loo, time in the lift (going just 2 floors), time actually within meetings, time waiting for my sandwich to toast at lunch (Twitter search: #lunchrage), I stop short of time at traffic lights (but only because it’s illegal).Īll would have been downtime 10 years ago. I do this in spite of two realisations I get every time I open these apps – 1) it’s 7am and no one else is online and 2) I checked them when I first woke up at 6am (this makes realisation 1 even more acute). In the queue for a coffee in the morning I will be checking Tweetie or Facebook on my iPhone. I am now completely incapable of standing still and doing nothing.
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