Employees could work wherever they were.

Once upon a time in a land faraway, the office opened at 8:00 AM. Cheerful, well-rested employees came to work and labored energetically all day. The office closed promptly at 5:00. The managers were pleased with the productivity of the employees. The employees straightened up their work areas and went home to have dinner with their families. The workday was over. Now it was time for rest and restoration.

Sound like a fairy tale? For many of us, this does not even remotely resemble our work life.  Back to our story. 

After hundreds of years, travelers from the West brought with them shiny new inventions. They called them the computer and the Internet and the cell phone. The employees gathered around, punching numbers and clicking letters. What fun! The managers smiled. Productivity would soar! Now employees could work wherever they were. 

Soon the employees were hunched over machines from early in the morning until late in the evening. Computer glare strained their eyes, and improperly arranged keyboards ruined their tendons. At the end of the day packed up their laptops only to plug them in again at home. 

As they gathered around the coffee machine in the morning one after the other bragged about how late they had worked the night before.

Now that sounds more like reality,right?

Our technological culture has evolved to a point where the number of hours you can work in a week is a major competition. When you drag your self to work in the morning, can you moan to your coworkers that you were working until nearly midnight? Are you seen with your laptop in its case slung over your shoulder as you head home? Do you dial in to keep tabs on your messages when you’re away from work? Do you take extra shifts to put some extra money on the mortgage? Do you find yourself involved in a different school or work activity every day of the week?