Almost everyone has a work phone and a personal phone, sometimes the unit might be one and the same. But when should you close the phone and where should you avoid replying from work, is there a good idea to keep the work phone on after hours? Should you be available all the time or should you place restrictions? Let’s find that out.
After Hours Phonecalls: How Available is Too Available?
The reality here is that using your work phone after hours and receiving calls from your boss or colleagues can be very frustrating. The reason why this generates stress is simple. The human body is designed to withstand only 8-9 hours of work per day, you will need rest in order to recoup from that and have a healthy life.
If you overwork or over-stress yourself, you will see that nothing good will come out of it. You will feel a constant sense of pressure and you will have a very hard time figuring out what you need to do since you will have to eat up from your relaxation time in order to find the right solutions.
A thing to keep in mind here is that not turning off your work phone is bad for your sanity and health. It will constantly provide more pressure towards you and you won’t have time to rest and enjoy life. Or, that’s exactly what your after hours time should be about. It might take a little bit of time to learn how you can stay away from your phone, but then again that’s exactly what you need to focus on right from the start.
Plus, keeping your phone always on will damage your phone, it’s a good idea to turn it off from time to time anyways as it maintains it running properly and with the best results. Not only that, but always staying in touch with your work might damage your relationship as well. Not every person in your life might appreciate the fact that you are always available for work, which is yet another reason why you should turn off your phone to begin with.
A study created by Forbes showed that 61% of all respondents were either depressed, annoyed or jealous after they checked their work phone updates. Obviously, this is not a good idea at all because it will just bring in a lot of pressure towards you, so it’s a much better option to just avoid that entirely. Not only will you deal with depression, but you will also be bothering others, which is exactly why you should turn that phone off right away if you are outside the working hours.
Yes, there are plenty of reasons why you should try and keep the phone off after the working hours. Not only is it the professional thing to do, but it also helps you maintain boundaries between your personal and work life. It’s the safe thing to do and it does provide you with plenty of great options as well!