18 Mar 4 reasons you need to take work email off your phone
We are all guilty of having our work emails on our phones, it might seem harmless – answering the odd email on our way to work, whilst cooking dinner or even on the weekend. But being constantly logged on and readily available to dive into your work inbox is actually affecting your every day life and not in a positive way.
Here are four reasons why you need to take your work email off of your phone and unplug every once in a while.
#1 You will be less distracted
A survey conducted by The Future Work Centre found that there was a strong correlation between getting push emails on your phone and feeling pressured to remain connected at all times. As soon as we receive an email notification we instantly feel the pressure to respond and stay connected with out work, even when we are out of the office.
The constant notifications we get from our phones are distracting us, even when we don’t pick up. Research from the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that our mobile phones disrupt our performance though out the day. If we receive a notification for an email it distracts us instantly, and if we don’t open it we get distracted thinking about it all day.
#2 You will sleep better
Research highlights that our constant connection with digital devices can have a negative impact on our sleep. The artificial blue light produced by screens increases alertness and reduces the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin by up to 22%. Using your phone to send that last email before bed could result in you having a worse night’s sleep.
Evidence shows that we require sleep in order for our minds to function productively and effectively. Although you might think that replying to that last email before bed is productive, it actually isn’t. Putting down your phone, and the work email on phone, and ensuring you get a good nights sleep will boost your productivity whilst in the office the next day.
#3 You will feel less stressed
Half of workers who frequently reply to emails outside of work hours have reported that they are experiencing stress, the Gallup poll interviewed 4,475 working adults for the study and found when asked ‘Did you experience stress a lot of the day yesterday?’, those that spent more time checking emails outside of work hours had the higher percentage of people feeling stressed.
The overuse of technology and working extra hours at home is proven to cause us added stress which could lead to digital burnout. It is essential for your health that you occasionally put down your technology, and log off from work email on phone, this will result in you feeling less stressed and being more productive.
#4 You will be more productive
Getting home and multi tasking between spending time with the family and replying to emails is actually making you less productive than you think. We all believe that getting a few emails sent off before we sit down for dinner or signing off that last minute contact whilst we’re out with the kids is helping us get work done, but in reality, it isn’t.
Multi tasking is a myth and our brains were not wired to multitask. Although we feel as if we are getting a lot done whilst multitasking, research actually shows that our productivity levels decrease. This research also shows that participants took 30% longer to complete tasks in parallel whilst making twice as many mistakes.
At Time to Log Off we believe that you need to have a healthy balance with your digital devices, and removing work emails from your phone is the perfect way to do this. If you want to gain the benefits from a digital detox our retreats are perfect to do this.
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