“Back in the day” is what we older people say when we are about to complain about something. Today it’s technology. The question came up in an online forum about whether or not your employer can tell you to keep your phone off, keep it in a locker, or in your car. Many people argue but what if there’s an emergency, what if someone dies? The answer I used when teaching is that they will still be dead when class is over and hopefully they would call 911 and not you. This offended many students but the response was always “What if” this or that happened and I didn’t have my phone. The answer is whatever is going to happen will happen with or without your phone. Now if you have children in K-12 you should have a phone on you for you know, field trips, forgotten lunches, and school shootings. But, in my opinion, you should not be able to have it on social media unless your employer specifically states that you can watch YouTube or TikTok, now listening to music on Pandora or something is okay if not needing to hear isn’t an issue. Here’s my issue.
You are paid to do a job your focus should be on that job, yes you should get breaks and during your breaks or lunch hours you should be able to listen to, view, etc. whatever you want as you are on break. You cannot, psychologically proven, you cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. The term multitask is a fallacy as we truly can’t do two things at once, some people can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. What are your thoughts, why can our employers make us wear uniforms when we think they cannot control if we have a phone with us? Share.
UpNorthMinimalist 