How The “Smart Phone” Has Changed The Work Place (And Not For The Better!)

You would be hard pressed these days to find someone who doesn’t have a “smart phone” – Iphone, Android, Blackberry, etc. We sure have come a long way from the Brick or bag phone!

MasterPo mainly texts and makes a few calls. MasterPo doesn’t have the need to surf the web from anywhere. MasterPo doesn’t Twitter and rarely is on Facebook these days (too much a time sink). And MP3’s never held much interest for MasterPo.

As it is, Mrs. MasterPo says MasterPo spends faaaaaaar too much time on the computer at home! (And she’s probably right.) So why take it on the road?

Last year MasterPo reluctantly started using a smart phone too. And new world opened up!
MasterPo still doesn’t Twitter or Facebook. But now MasterPo can check stock prices and market news any time of the day. MasterPo can do a variety of online banking and other financial transactions from the phone. Youtube videos are available at any time. And nearly any genre is available on internet radio any time – even during work.

That got MasterPo thinking.

While it’s a good thing MasterPo can do much of his banking and other important transactions from his phone as oppose from the work PC, which is monitored and tracked by MasterPo’s employer, it occurs to MasterPo: How many tens of thousands of man hours a week is likely lost by employees surfing the web in private (more or less) from their phones during work hours?!

Not just during lunch or coffee break but just sitting at your desk and surfing away. MasterPo knows of no study looking at this phenomena but it’s only logical to conclude smart phones are costing a lot of lost productivity at the office.

MasterPo isn’t suggesting any work place policy changes. There are safety and privacy issues involved too. As long as it’s your own phone, what does the employer have to say about how you use it?!

But as MasterPo writes this article, while listening to internet radio and has live stock quotes streaming in, one has to wonder how many others coast to coast are doing the same thing?

No good deed goes unpunished.