5th July 2018

Trains, planes and?

Have phones at work become the new smoking in the workplace?

A walk into any office, anywhere in the UK, will make clear that attention to the job in the workplace during working hours is being jeopardised by the use of mobile phones.

Mobiles are everywhere today, you cannot escape them. In the office, on the train, in the street, the office, the plane, the underground, cinema, restaurants, theatre, gym, spa, saunas- all areas I have experience of although I may have forgotten some. 

Even the delivery room is not out of bounds. Constance Hall, in our image, has snapped back at 'mummy shamers', who said that it was 'poor parenting' for her to be on her phone! 

The streets are being walked by individuals in a zombie like trance, gazing in thrall at screen content- a book, an e mail, a movie. Even mothers with babies in prams and pushchairs are not exempt. And in some cases, sadly, death has followed. 

A recent RAC Report on Motoring revealed a significant increase in the number of drivers admitting to using a mobile phone at the wheel. According to the report, between 2014 and 2016 this figure has risen from 8% to 31%. Regardless of the reason, any distraction behind the wheel can lead to accidents, severe injuries and car write offs.

In January this year, the Trump White House issued a new ruling banning the use of personal cellular devices in the West Wing, citing security concerns 

From what I see on my way to meetings around the country, mobile dependency is so bad that the use of phones is almost the equivalent corporate time waste of office smokers who regularly decamp for a puff at the expense of their non-smoking co-workers although I guess some multi-tasking with Phone and fag could occur.

I would be the first to declare that I have an iPhone and iPad, but I yearn for some quiet time both in and out of the office.

Train journeys are a nightmare, even in so-called quiet carriages. You are never more than a seat away from some idiot shouting down a phone. Along with their loud summaries of the most important business deal ever done by anyone, anywhere, anytime, conversations also contain stock phrases like ’I am on the train’, ‘Sorry, I just went through a tunnel’, must be a dead spot’, ‘can you e mail me that’, ‘sorry can you say that again’. 

The conversations often contain corporate buzz phrases like:

At the end of the day, Sophie will take the lead on this, Colin will be having a 360,Ecosystem, Better run this with the scrum master, start building consensus, We’re working in silos here…….I could go on, perhaps you may wish to add some that irritate below?

“Distracted walking” incidents, according to the National Safety Council “are on the rise, and everyone with a cell phone is at risk. According to a Governors Highway Safety Association report, there were nearly 6,000 pedestrian fatalities in 2017. This number mirrors 2016 fatalities”.

We are losing focus on our surroundings and putting our safety – and the safety of others – at risk. 

The solution: Think about your surroundings and those around you. Stop using phones while driving, walking, in the gym, spa, getting off trains, buses and planes, on crossings too. Amazingly over half of so called distracted walking injuries occur in our own homes, proving that we need to stay aware of our surroundings, whether they’re new or familiar.

We have all sorts of ‘cause’ days, weeks or months in the UK today, the time has come to have a ‘cause’ month for not using a mobile device for calls, texts and e mailing in ALL public places?

John Dashfield, Dashfield Coaching & Development Ltd, Panacea Comment