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Separation of Work and Home

In a previous post, A Permanent Work in Progress, I mentioned in passing the notion of the line between work and home becoming more blurred:

However,
this potential omniweb may not be such a great thing for those of us
who like having some boundaries between our work and time off. I cant
help but fear that someday not having access to my email or not
being in cellphone range might not be valid reasons to not work while
on vacation, or that no matter where I am in the world, I might be
easily findable. I also wouldnt mind being able to escape from the
ubiquity of technology every now and then, either, but from the looks
of things this is going to only become more difficult.

Recently, though, the Australian government halted plans to deploy BlackBerries to its workers
after employees expressed fears that the devices might upset their
current balance of work and home life. It seems that the BlackBerry has
polarized at least two groups of differing opinion; the first feeling
that BlackBerries would make the work day longer since they extend
workstation functionality outside of the office, while the second group
felt that in doing so it allowed for greater flexibility for schedules
and telecommuting.

Personally, I can relate to both
perspectives. Having a BlackBerry allows for work-related travel while
still keeping up with the 150-200 emails I might receive from
co-workers and clients a day. This is great since there is nothing
worse than returning after traveling for work to a bottomless inbox.
However, its also tempting to want to respond to email after hours,
too. Every time my BlackBerry starts blinking after hours, I have to
resist the inclination to open it up and deal with whatever messages
are there, rather then let them pile up for the morning. I think the
key is just being able to turn the thing off, though the cut off point
is really up to your individual discretion, and the requirements of
your job.

Do you feel that having a BlackBerry (or comparable device) has eroded your boundaries?

Update: 01/09/2008: Rae at BBGeeks posted an editorial after I tweeted a question: Does your BlackBerry rule your life and linked to this post. Her editorial here.
02/27/2008: Paul Kedrosky writes I couldnt help but notice some bearded guy to Bens (Bernanke) right who was a certifiable Crackberry addict. He was typing up a storm in his lap, showing incoming emails to other people, and generally out of control with email, and ignoring Big Ben.

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