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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Am I a freaking dinosaur?
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
... My husband says so. Because I started a new job today, and top of the list was "turn off / leave home all cell phones. If your family needs to reach you in an emergency, have them call this series of numbers (insert coworkers lucky enough to have desk phones) till they hit a human being."
When I asked why, I was told that it was to prevent people surfing social media on their phones.
Went home in a carefully concealed Very Bad Mood™ at being treated like a baby, only to have my husband tell me that his work has the same rule, and in fct, so do most of the places he is acquainted with. Apparently adults can't be trusted to behave like adults.
Gentle readers, am I indeed a dinosaur? ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
(Started off my day with a blast by parking in the--unmarked--president's parking space. Go me.)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
First of all: hooray LC has a new job!!!
As for your question, even at local highschools kids have their phones, they just must have them on silent and have 1 chance each. If caught using in class, gone. So yes, in my view they are heavy handed about this.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
my current job has that rule for our summer student workers. not for me, but I leave it in my bag any way. I'll already too easily distracted.
and yes, we need those rules because Some People (stern look around the Ship) can't resist temptation. I'd bet money there's been studies done since the advent of social media/easy access internet/cat videos and those studies say our work productivity has gone down.
apparently I'm the dinosaur in my work place because I think we should have a dress code of some sort. Not fancy dress, but sweats? at a fancy victorian hotel? What is the matter with some people?
[ 19. June 2014, 04:33: Message edited by: comet ]
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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
When I asked why, I was told that it was to prevent people surfing social media on their phones.
Went home in a carefully concealed Very Bad Mood™ at being treated like a baby, only to have my husband tell me that his work has the same rule, and in fct, so do most of the places he is acquainted with. Apparently adults can't be trusted to behave like adults.
No they can't - sadly some (a fairly high % IME) will always push things to the limits. You're paid to work, not surf. The temptation to join in with an interesting conversation is just too much.
It's little use saying "you can do it in the lunch break": lunch break soon gets extended into work time. In one major UK financial group, productivity went down by 15% once people were allowed to surf the net.
Some people seem to have this strange idea that work is an extension of their social life - they act and dress accordingly. Now that may be ok for some environments but for many it isn't.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Starbug
Shipmate
# 15917
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Posted
As I've just lost a member of staff because he was excessively emailing his girlfriend during work time (among other things), I would say that some adults can't be trusted to behave like adults. It's the misbehaving minority who spoil it for everyone else, as they are the reason why the rules keep being made more and more rigid.
In our workplace,excessive personal use of computers, mobile phones etc is regarded as 'time theft' - in my case, the member of staff was spending quantities of his day doing personal stuff and claiming flexidays! Not fair on his colleagues who were working hard.
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“Oh the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” ― The Day of the Doctor
Posts: 1189 | From: West of the New Forest | Registered: Sep 2010
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
Yep.
No personal use of phones or tablets is allowed in our workplace. They must be switched off. Except at break times in the staff room.
Quite right too!
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
I don't think they should be required to be off. What happened in the days of yore when people used the company telegraph for personal use? When they gathered 'round the coal fire and chatted? When they dipped their quills in the company ink for a personal correspondence?
If one manages to complete one's tasks in the allotted time, what matter the rest?
[ 19. June 2014, 05:54: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Gareth
Shipmate
# 2494
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Posted
Any employer has the right to stipulate in their contracts that use of personal phones/tablets during work time is not allowed - and in my opinion the respectful way to deliver that policy is by ensuring staff are aware of it and making it a disciplinary matter if they break the rules.
But I've also worked in places that insist you drop your phone off at reception on the way in.
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"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high powered rifle and scope."
P. J. O'Rourke
Posts: 345 | From: Chaos | Registered: Mar 2002
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
We have a reasonable personal use policy. Expectation being phones are off or on vibrate the majority of the time.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Macrina
Shipmate
# 8807
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Posted
I work a lot of night shifts and this often means that come 12:30am I have done all my work, checked all the photocopying, made up all the stuff I can make up and am facing a long long night until 7am. In these circumstances I am happy to bring my tablet to work or watch the ward TV but I do so on the explicit understanding between myself, my colleagues and my patients that if there is anything to do it gets put down and I go and do that. I am paid to work not watch TV yes but when there's no work I watch TV. And yes I have spoken to my boss and colleagues this is a recognised and not easily resolved problem.
Posts: 535 | From: Christchurch, New Zealand | Registered: Nov 2004
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
You all work in some draconian places. I suppose that I work in a consultancy, and so many of us are contactable mainly on mobiles (for work matters), but I have never worked anywhere that imposes such a policy.
Again, the fact that I have been working on mobile apps might also have had an impact on this. But even before, it was not an issue.
Employees should be trusted. If they break that trust, they should expect a kicking. But the starting point should be trust.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Siegfried
Ship's ferret
# 29
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Posted
If you treat your employees like naughty children, they'll respond in kind.
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Siegfried
Life is just a bowl of cherries!
Posts: 5592 | From: Tallahassee, FL USA | Registered: May 2001
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
I don't think they should be required to be off. What happened in the days of yore when people used the company telegraph for personal use? When they gathered 'round the coal fire and chatted? When they dipped their quills in the company ink for a personal correspondence?
If one manages to complete one's tasks in the allotted time, what matter the rest?
Either go to your line manager and ask for more work or help someone who hasn't done it all.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
If you treat your employees like naughty children, they'll respond in kind.
True - that's why there's a no phone policy in a lot of workplaces. Some other adult was given the responsibility but abused it: sad to say it's hard to work out at interview who will/wont do the same.
In the absence of that information - and in the interests of company performance, then no phones or tablets.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Starbug:
As I've just lost a member of staff because he was excessively emailing his girlfriend during work time (among other things), I would say that some adults can't be trusted to behave like adults. It's the misbehaving minority who spoil it for everyone else, as they are the reason why the rules keep being made more and more rigid.
In our workplace,excessive personal use of computers, mobile phones etc is regarded as 'time theft' - in my case, the member of staff was spending quantities of his day doing personal stuff and claiming flexidays! Not fair on his colleagues who were working hard.
Don't give him the benefit of a euphemism: you haven't lost him - he's been sacked, fired, got rid of for gross misconduct. If you hadn't then everyone else would slack off too in sympathy.
One goes to work to - well, work. It's not a break from the social life.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Macrina:
I work a lot of night shifts and this often means that come 12:30am I have done all my work, checked all the photocopying, made up all the stuff I can make up and am facing a long long night until 7am. In these circumstances I am happy to bring my tablet to work or watch the ward TV but I do so on the explicit understanding between myself, my colleagues and my patients that if there is anything to do it gets put down and I go and do that. I am paid to work not watch TV yes but when there's no work I watch TV. And yes I have spoken to my boss and colleagues this is a recognised and not easily resolved problem.
Your bosses might need a course in office organisation and job allocation, I suspect.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Siegfried
Ship's ferret
# 29
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
If you treat your employees like naughty children, they'll respond in kind.
True - that's why there's a no phone policy in a lot of workplaces. Some other adult was given the responsibility but abused it: sad to say it's hard to work out at interview who will/wont do the same.
In the absence of that information - and in the interests of company performance, then no phones or tablets.
You just completely reversed what I was saying. Well done.
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Siegfried
Life is just a bowl of cherries!
Posts: 5592 | From: Tallahassee, FL USA | Registered: May 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Starbug:
As I've just lost a member of staff because he was excessively emailing his girlfriend during work time (among other things), I would say that some adults can't be trusted to behave like adults. It's the misbehaving minority who spoil it for everyone else, as they are the reason why the rules keep being made more and more rigid.
To be frank, I see that as a failure of management. Being unable to deal with the misbehaving minority on an individual basis is not a terribly good reason to punish everyone. "If anyone misbehaves, you'll all miss out" is a tactic used with schoolchildren. It should not be used with adults who you are hoping will be highly motivated to help deliver your organisational goals.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
... My husband says so. Because I started a new job today, and top of the list was "turn off / leave home all cell phones. If your family needs to reach you in an emergency, have them call this series of numbers (insert coworkers lucky enough to have desk phones) till they hit a human being."
When I asked why, I was told that it was to prevent people surfing social media on their phones.
I assume, then, that the arrangement works both ways - if you can't use their time for personal business, they can't use your time by contacting you at home?
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
I am not sympathetic. I think it should be legal and commonplace to use static-generating devices to block use of such devices: in classrooms, churches, theatres, performances of opera and ballet, etc. No, you do not have to take this call.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I am not sympathetic. I think it should be legal and commonplace to use static-generating devices to block use of such devices: in classrooms, churches, theatres, performances of opera and ballet, etc. No, you do not have to take this call.
I couldn't agree more.
If there is an emergency then someone will deal with it until you are available. If you are that worried about your child/pet/spouse/whatever that a call to check in wouldn't wait 'till break time, then maybe your care arrangements need rethinking?
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I couldn't agree less actually. The mark of a mature and civilized human being is self control and ability to make good decisions, and we should demand proper behaviour from people. Which is why I support the local high school which allows cell phones at school, but as I noted above, that they be silent and not used in classrooms. The controls should be internal to people, and when they are not, quick individually targetted sanction only. If teenagers at school can manage proper cell phone behaviour, so can adults.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
No, I'm the freaking dinosaur, for not having a mobile phone in the first place. I don't want to be contacted when I'm out of the house. That's my free time.
In the school where I worked, staff like pupils, had to keep their phones in their lockers, for lunchtime use only. It wouldn't have been fair to impose the regulation on the children if the staff didn't do the same.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
I don't have a cellphone. The rule seems incredibly paternalistic.
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
Either go to your line manager and ask for more work or help someone who hasn't done it all.
This only works for specific types of employment.
And smacks of poor management, regardless.
IME, no mobile rules are often indicative of poor management.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Fineline
Shipmate
# 12143
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Posted
Working in a school, mobile phones are required to be off except in the staff room for breaks - not just for staff, but for visitors too. This is not because of potential web surfing, but because most mobile phones have cameras on them and the school doesn't want to risk people taking photos of the children. It seems a fair rule, for child protection - sure, it's frustrating if you know you aren't going to use it that way, but then the same rule has to be for everyone. And before mobile phones were a thing, it was the norm that if anyone needed to call you in an emergency, they would phone your place of work.
Posts: 2375 | From: England | Registered: Dec 2006
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Meerkat
Suricata suricatta
# 16117
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Posted
Mobile phones are both good and bad, for many reasons:
* you can be in touch at most times, especially in an emergency
* if you have a friend or relative who is ill or in Hospital, you may need to know QUICKLY when a 'certain moment' comes. That can not reasonably happen if you can only be contacted by someone else's phone... they may not be there to answer it
* Work phone? What if you don't work? I don't work, nor does the good lady. We have retired.
* They are a pain when they become intrusive. We turn ours off or put them to silent in such circumstances such as Church.
* using a mobile can be taken to extremes. I have seen two teenaged girls - standing 45 foot apart - talking on their phones!
In balance, IMHO, mobile phones are essentially a good thing if used responsibly!
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Simples!
Posts: 160 | From: Herts, UK | Registered: Jan 2011
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
If my workplace tried to forbid every minute of non-work related stuff during the work day, then I would happily trade that for not having to do any work related stuff at home.
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I am not sympathetic. I think it should be legal and commonplace to use static-generating devices to block use of such devices: in classrooms, churches, theatres, performances of opera and ballet, etc. No, you do not have to take this call.
Cell phones are more than phones. My students use them for data collection, calculations, and web research. They are mini-computers. So yes, they have a real use in a classroom.
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I am not sympathetic. I think it should be legal and commonplace to use static-generating devices to block use of such devices: in classrooms, churches, theatres, performances of opera and ballet, etc. No, you do not have to take this call.
And if someone has a heart attack in your classroom, church, theatre, opera or ballet? No, you do not have to call the ambulance. Or the fire brigade. Or the police.
Perhaps more importantly, you are also saying that you are fine with sending out a signal that doesn't just affect mobile phones, but other devices for which radio spectrum is important. Like pacemakers.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Is no one mature and sensible enough to turn the phone to silent for church, a movie, concert, business meeting, school? Must you have mummy, the police, management, the school administration, the librarian, people carrying rubber gloves and lubricant telling you to do so? The latter can help you put it away, out of sight. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Okay, let's correct some assumptions. First of all, I don't take calls on company time. Every freaking minute I spend on the phone comes directly out of my break or lunch time. I have NO work phone, nor is there a main number I can be paged at.
Second, my cell phone is a cheapo and incapable of surfing the internet or doing basically anything besides being an emergency contact.
And finally, no care arrangements are adequate for calls like "So-and-so is dying, you need to come right away." Or alternately, "Your kid got hit by a car, would you please get down here?"
Yes, the person will still manage to die without me. And no, my kid will most likely make it through until I get off eight hours later and can find out that he needed me. But what line of work is so important that I should, as a matter of routine, resign myself to missing that call, that need? If I were a surgeon elbow deep in someone's belly, okay. But I'm a freaking writer.
It's a very open office floor plan. Nobody's going to get away with abuse for long. IMHO telling people to set the thing on vibrate and step out to take only really, really important calls (and to charge that time to break) ought to be sufficient.
Either that, or install a main line with someone to answer it and page employees as needed.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
LC, I would suggest working there for some little time, then raising a suggestion for a modification of the policy, based on such incidents as have occurred in that period where more facilitated communication for employees would have a good thing. With the support of colleagues, preferably.
The trouble with our hyper connected world is that it makes us hyper anxious; because we could know quickly if something bad was happening, if we don't, then something bad is happening. Not necessarily.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Fineline it's interesting that your school has that rule because none of the schools where I have volunteered have - or at least no one has told me. That said, the only photos I've taken at school were of the school cat up a tree. I would never take photos of children at school nor of any children without their parent's permission.
I was glad that I had my phone at school when my sis-in-law rang to say my dad was dying. She didn't have the school number so I wouldn't have known in time to go home and say goodbye.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
LC, I would suggest working there for some little time, then raising a suggestion for a modification of the policy, based on such incidents as have occurred in that period where more facilitated communication for employees would have a good thing. With the support of colleagues, preferably.
The trouble with our hyper connected world is that it makes us hyper anxious; because we could know quickly if something bad was happening, if we don't, then something bad is happening. Not necessarily.
This is very likely. Thanks for the insight!
I'll probably not raise the issue for years, though, having an ingrained major anxiety response to mad company policies after the problems at my last job. bleah.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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busyknitter
Shipmate
# 2501
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Huia:
Fineline it's interesting that your school has that rule because none of the schools where I have volunteered have - or at least no one has told me. That said, the only photos I've taken at school were of the school cat up a tree. I would never take photos of children at school nor of any children without their parent's permission.
I was glad that I had my phone at school when my sis-in-law rang to say my dad was dying. She didn't have the school number so I wouldn't have known in time to go home and say goodbye.
Huia
My son's school has that rule and for the same reason as Fineline's school. In fact, all staff and vistors are required to check in their devices at reception. It's a special school and most of the children have severe communication difficulties (some are completely non verbal) so as a governor I was very happy to agree to this extra layer of safeguarding.
But I've never come across such a draconian restriction in any normal office environment. This is the 21st century and any office I have worked in recently (I do a lot of interim contract work, so get around) allows staff to surf the web on office computers during breaks and keep their phones at their desks.
Posts: 903 | From: The Wool Basket | Registered: Mar 2002
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
Is no one mature and sensible enough to turn the phone to silent for church, a movie, concert, business meeting, school? Must you have mummy, the police, management, the school administration, the librarian, people carrying rubber gloves and lubricant telling you to do so? The latter can help you put it away, out of sight.
Judging by what often happens in those places - no. At least some of us are sensible but others aren't - who then happily ruin it for the rest of us.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
In many work places it's not only expected that people will bring in their own phones*, but want to connect to the corporate network and use them to see work email etc. It's called "BYOD" - Bring Your Own Device - and it's a big thing in IT these days.
(*and tablets and laptops)
Posts: 3690 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kyzyl:
Cell phones are more than phones. My students use them for data collection, calculations, and web research. They are mini-computers. So yes, they have a real use in a classroom.
They are indeed very useful to students, but such a distraction that at the college I teach at they are banned in virtually all classrooms, including mine. When I taught in Africa there was a little bench outside the classroom where all the students (pastors in their 30s and 40s) would leave their cell phones before coming inside.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Tom Day
Ship's revolutionary
# 3630
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Posted
We use the, in lessons and I use both my android phone and iPad to help me teach in the lesson. Students are allowed phones but only out if teacher says it is ok.
Our school does not have a specific staff policy but teachers have been disciplined for misuse of Facebook etc. my view is that we need to teach children and teenagers how to be responsible users of technology, if we just ban it then we don't do that. We make it a problem. By teaching students how best to use them and, more importantly, when to use them we help everyone.
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My allotment blog
Posts: 6473 | From: My Sofa | Registered: Dec 2002
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Starbug
Shipmate
# 15917
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
quote:
Originally posted by Starbug:
As I've just lost a member of staff because he was excessively emailing his girlfriend during work time (among other things), I would say that some adults can't be trusted to behave like adults. It's the misbehaving minority who spoil it for everyone else, as they are the reason why the rules keep being made more and more rigid.
In our workplace,excessive personal use of computers, mobile phones etc is regarded as 'time theft' - in my case, the member of staff was spending quantities of his day doing personal stuff and claiming flexidays! Not fair on his colleagues who were working hard.
Don't give him the benefit of a euphemism: you haven't lost him - he's been sacked, fired, got rid of for gross misconduct. If you hadn't then everyone else would slack off too in sympathy.
One goes to work to - well, work. It's not a break from the social life.
Actually, he resigned before he could be dismissed, but yes, I take your point.
We are allowed some private use of email, internet etc during work time, as long as it's reasonable, you have permission from your line manager and you make up any excessive time afterwards. The problem with my staff member was that it wasn't reasonable (i.e. sending unnecessary emails during periods when the team were busy), he didn't have my permission and he wasn't making up the time. If only his usage had been reasonable and at appropriate times, there wouldn't have been a problem.
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“Oh the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” ― The Day of the Doctor
Posts: 1189 | From: West of the New Forest | Registered: Sep 2010
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Twangist
Shipmate
# 16208
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Posted
they can be useful in my line of work, kids have the songs they are learning on them can use them as guitar tuners and metronomes, record audio or video of a demonstration or backing to practice to and so on....BUT if they are using their phones as phones, nightmare!
Interestingly in the secondary school I spend a lot of time in there is no signal ...
Slight tangent I'm thinking of going back to using a paper Bible more than the kindle one on my phone.
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JJ
SDG
blog
Posts: 604 | From: Devon | Registered: Feb 2011
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
In my corner of high tech, one is usually allowed phone use and access to the web. In fact, it's usually part of the job, given how software documentation is so crappy that one needs to google for a bug fix. At my last job, they offered to pay the monthly bill for a smart phone. I was just talking with a friend whose employer was trying to save money by no longer paying for the cell phone bill. His response was "Great, then I won't have to deal with customer emergencies in my spare time." They backed off quickly on that particular cost savings.
However I can recall this being a problem with regular phones around 1976. A vice president didn't want people making personal phone calls. The pushback came from one of the most respected older programmers who wanted to be able to talk to his wife and or children briefly during the day.
There is a problem in places that have confidential information that a modern smart phone is a great way to grab a lot of data from the system and take it out the door. I don't know if that's a problem in your line of work. There were various tantrums in the last job between the lawyers who were trying to keep client information under lock and key and yet still want developers to debug it on the fly in a crisis.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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ecumaniac
Ship's whipping girl
# 376
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Late Paul:
In many work places it's not only expected that people will bring in their own phones*, but want to connect to the corporate network and use them to see work email etc. It's called "BYOD" - Bring Your Own Device - and it's a big thing in IT these days.
(*and tablets and laptops)
We have that simply because the equipment that our students own is far, far superior to that which we can provide them with. It usually only takes one lesson on the school laptops before they are convinced that it's worth the hassle of carting in their own.
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it's a secret club for people with a knitting addiction, hiding under the cloak of BDSM - Catrine
Posts: 2901 | From: Cambridge | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
... I started a new job today, and top of the list was "turn off / leave home all cell phones.
I'm not that important and my mobile phone isn't very bright: when I am at school, my little Kyocera flip-phone is switched off, in the centre console of my Focus out in the car park. Classrooms always have land-lines and they almost always work! Most have computers which I only use for accessing Radio 3 to calm the pupils down or running the Smart Board app so I can teach.
On stage, it is in my pocket but still switched off. Stage work is far too dangerous to be yakking or distracted on the job. People could get hurt!
I virtually never talk and drive. It is dangerous and I need both hands and both feet to drive my Focus and my Vectra! (I special-ordered manual gearboxes on both cars.)
Friday afternoon, I was going to the bank and the bloke in the next lane was making faces and yelling at me. I finally rolled my window down and apologized profusely for whatever infraction I may have committed. This feckless idiot was talking on the cell phone the whole time during his tirade!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
You're paid to work, not surf.
I wish I was paid to surf! Sadly, my surfing skills have eroded over the last forty years and the Pacific Ocean is no longer within walking distance of my home. I used to be rather good: while at UC San Diego as a teenager, I once shared a wave with professional surfer Skip Frye.
In case you lot haven't guessed by now, surfing is done with a medium-long fibreglass board which has fins at the rear for steering and an elastic leash for safety and retention. It cannot be done with an electronic device such as a cell-phone, computer or television. No ocean, no surfing!
![[brick wall]](graemlins/brick_wall.gif)
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
"If anyone misbehaves, you'll all miss out" is a tactic used with schoolchildren. It should not be used with adults who you are hoping will be highly motivated to help deliver your organisational goals.
I find that it works quite well with the under-twelves in the classroom where I always give the pupils a grade for class behaviour!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Macrina
Shipmate
# 8807
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Posted
So the other thing I was thinking.
Haven't studies shown that humans aren't built for sustained concentration for long periods of time, particularly when those tasks are not ones we'd pick to spend time on?
I know I always do better work when I am able to organise my own time and given responsibility and autonomy to do so. In all my jobs people have assumed I will do my work and left me to do it. From the feedback I get I do this to a high standard but I am a chronic distracted person, I like to stop and get a coffee, shift about a bit or chat for a few minutes every 15-20 mins.
I don't think 'work' as we've understood it over the last 150 years is a natural human pursuit.
Posts: 535 | From: Christchurch, New Zealand | Registered: Nov 2004
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
At least for the way I'm made, I totally agree with you. If I'm going to be proofreading phone books (yes, my new job), I HAVE to take short physical/mental/eye breaks every so often, or I'll start missing stuff. Not to mention turning into a grouch.
Unfortunately, I have worked for several companies who seem to think their knowledge workers are like people on a production line--take 30 seconds a way, and you miss something. And they apply the same requirements to us.
It's one reason why this is almost certainly going to be a short-term job. Nice people, nice place, nice money--I'm not built for nonstop high focus work. I can fake it for a while, but the strain will tell.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Augustine the Aleut
Shipmate
# 1472
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Posted
The only restrictions I ran into during my years of joyful service to Our Glorious Sovereign were either in high-security settings, where devices were deposited at checkpoints (even personal laptops), or at certain senior staff meetings, where we were required to put our devices on a side table.
I thought this latter provision odd until I had to chair some meetings with outside academics and noticed that about a fifth of the table was texting or reading e-mail during sessions--- I soon implemented the rule, telling these university staff that it was government protocol. One querolously queried it and, reaching out to my SoF identity, I informed her that this was first implemented by Augustine-- luckily cultural studies specialists are ignorant of patristics....
At the coalface, staff were expected to do their work on an inexorable (legislative timeline) schedule-- how they managed five minutes here or there was their business and managers showed their leadership skills by motivating their teams, rather than by behaving like particularly anal drill sergeants. When the latter happened, teams dissolved quickly and the manager had to crawl in ignominy to have senior levels re-staff the unit, as they themselves were either demoted, shuffled off, or coached-to-competence.
We all knew that our internet use was monitored and the two firings (dismissals-for-cause) I knew of in my last job were for abuse of same (stocktrading in one case, and in the other, running a private business while on salary, with a whiff of NSFW viewing). The knowledge that usage was monitored was enough to tamp down most abuse and we were generally astonished that these two culprits were so clueless that they thought they could get away with it.
[ 21. June 2014, 14:30: Message edited by: Augustine the Aleut ]
Posts: 6236 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Oct 2001
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