{"id":323625,"date":"2010-02-15T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T17:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"tag:business.theatlantic.com,2010:\/\/3.35884"},"modified":"2010-02-14T16:25:30","modified_gmt":"2010-02-14T21:25:30","slug":"do-blackberrys-hurt-our-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/323625","title":{"rendered":"Do BlackBerrys Hurt Our Productivity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the smartphone market explodes, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask whether these devices are actually improving our productivity. On the one hand, it’s clear to me that answering work email on DC Metro — when I’d otherwise be listening to Coldplay and staring at the floor — adds productivity where there would otherwise be mere idleness. On the other hand, I’m sensitive to the argument that we don’t always use our BlackBerrys, iPhones and Androids in a terribly efficient way.<\/p>\n

James Kwak, the wonderful economics blogger at Baseline Scenario, argues<\/a> that BlackBerry has “made a fortune off the myth of
\nefficiency.” Let’s take a look at his argument:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

The reason BlackBerry is so popular with corporations is
\nthe idea that now people can be working while waiting in lines at the
\nairport.* (Judging from the ads, this is the<\/em> core use case.)
\nThat time is now money, at least according to the efficiency theory.
\nBut what are people doing? They are clearing out emails. If there is
\nany benefit to anyone, it is that they will spend a little less time in
\nthe evening clearing out emails on their computers; but they won’t be
\ndoing any other work, because the length of their workday isn’t set by
\na clock, but by their sense of when they’ve done enough for the day.
\n(For a lot of people, their willingness to knock off at the end of the
\nday is related to the amount of email left in their inboxes.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Surely a smart phone’s utility extends beyond
\nairport security lines. Every day introduces dead weight time for which
\na smart phone at least offers a connection to our work, our friends, and
\nthe outside world. \n<\/p>\n

To the “cleaning out emails” point, I find that I actually save quite a bit
\nof time cleaning out my inbox on-the-go so that when I get back to my
\ncomputer, the emails waiting for me are the emails I want to respond
\nto. This is as close to pure time saved as I can imagine.\n<\/p>\n

\n

In addition, a lot of the supposed BlackBerry benefit is destroyed
\nby four factors. First, working on a BlackBerry is less efficient than
\nworking on a computer (it takes more time to get the same stuff done),
\nso some of your benefit (time waiting in line) is wasted in lower
\nproductivity. \n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He’s right that using a BlackBerry is much less productive than
\nusing a computer. But that’s hardly damning. Assuming that the time I
\nspend waiting in line, or on the subway, would otherwise be spent
\nstaring at the floor, even slow typing of necessary emails is time
\nsaved.\n<\/p>\n

\n

Second, checking your email constantly causes you to
\nrespond to emails and deal with issues that you could have simply
\nignored had you waited until you got home or to your hotel (since
\nquestions or issues posed in email often resolve themselves if you
\nsimply wait a few hours). \n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

BlackBerrys don’t “cause” us to respond to all mail (we’ve already
\nestablished that they’re useful for deleting email, too). Instead they give us
\nthe opportunity to respond to important news immediately, which is a
\nmore efficient way of solving pressing issues than waiting until you
\nget home.<\/p>\n

If somebody without a BlackBerry finds that after-hour work questions “often resolve themselves if
\nyou simply wait a few hours,” maybe it’s because workers with BlackBerrys were resolving those questions
\nbefore he knew they
\nexisted. One thing is certain: Not responding to questions is not more efficient than responding to questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n

Third, having a BlackBerry causes you to
\nspend more time on email than you need to, because you can<\/em>.
\nBut people lobby their companies to pay for their BlackBerrys because
\nthey want them, and companies often agree because they think they’re
\ngetting a more efficient workforce. \n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I suppose I don’t see how spending more time on email is necessarily
\nunproductive, or even sub-optimally productive. Again, if I’m on the
\nsubway listening to Coldplay and staring at the floor, I’m
\naccomplishing nothing of particular use for my company. If I’m
\nresponding to my boss’s questions (even slowly, with typos), my
\nBlackBerry has contributed to both my efficiency and my boss’s without
\nforcing me to sacrifice anything terribly meaningful.\n<\/p>\n

\n

Fourth, the quality of work you do
\non a BlackBerry is lower than on a computer.<\/b> For example, with a
\ncomputer, you can answer a question by finding a specific data source
\nand actually finding the answer; with a BlackBerry, you are more likely
\nto give an unhelpful answer like “try looking at source X,” which you
\nmay have misidentified, and which is less helpful to the person asking
\nthe question.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To the bold part: Sure, but I’d imagine few employers expect their workers to compose final draft memos on the BlackBerrys. The work on smart phones is best thought of as a way to stay connected and bridge the time between seats at your desk. It’s sort
\nof like telling my roommate doing push-ups in the apartment, “You know that’s a much
\nlower quality work-out than joining a fully stocked gym.” That’s
\nright, of course, but it’s not an argument against doing push-ups at the
\napartment (which incidentally lacks a fully stocked gym).<\/p>\n

James ends: “In case you’re wondering, I have no BlackBerry and no
\nsimilar device
\nfor checking email while waiting in airport lines. (My dumbphone can,
\nin a real pinch, check my email, but it’s so bad at it I rarely use
\nit.)” I appreciate this honesty. But not owning a smart phone limits one’s analysis their usefulness. I find there’s always a few minutes of dead weight time during the day, and
\nthe ability to fill even these few minutes with responding to work,
\nfriends and family email is actually quite useful. <\/p>\n

But I’m
\ninterested in what the commenters think about their own smartphones…


\n

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\n\"\"<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the smartphone market explodes, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask whether these devices are actually improving our productivity. On the one hand, it’s clear to me that answering work email on DC Metro — when I’d otherwise be listening to Coldplay and staring at the floor — adds productivity where there would otherwise be mere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}