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Being Mobile Doesn't Necessarily Make You Work Smarter

While I never question the value of being connected 24/7, I do wonder if it makes me work smarter. Almost everyone is familiar with the notion that we should "work smarter, not harder," but how many of us actually work smarter because of our smartphones and wireless laptops?

Dan Markovitz at EvolvingExcellence questions just how efficient most knowledge workers are with all this connectivity:

Now, most people would deny they have too much time to do their work. Not too many people are taking three-martini lunches anymore, or leaving the office right at 5:00pm. Hell, on average Americans only take about 79% of their vacation time, and 20% of people work on their vacations. And with our cellphone- and Crackberry-addled days, nights, and weekends, it seems as though there’s an infinite torrent of work. Ironically, these same vacation-skipping, Blackberry-beholden employees complain vociferously about a lack of time for their personal lives.

But here’s the thing: your cellphone, Blackberry, and general willingness to work late and on weekends are part of the problem, not the solution. Counterintuitive, but true.

While I don't completely agree with him -- I for one can think of many instances in which mobile data access has saved me work time, not added to my total number of hours worked. However, I do think Markovitz has a point. Being forced to do all of your tasks in a certain time allotment has two values. One, it does force you to work more efficiently. But it also forces you to evaluate which tasks are actually necessary and which ones are unnecessary and can be skipped. In short, it can make you work smarter.

What do you think? Does all this 24/7 connectivity make workers more efficient? Or is Markovitz right? Do we use this technology to mask inefficiency?

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