There’s a good chance you check your emails after work. Indeed, almost half the working population logs into their work email during their family time at home. Work never seems to stop for many people. According to the latest “Modern Families Index” employees are finding it increasingly hard to “switch off” after work due to modern technology.
This is nothing new. I have been interviewed countless times by various media organisations about the psychology of “email overload”. In fact, it was 13 years ago, in 2007, when I was first asked about the topic by the Daily Telegraph. You will probably have seen the subject mentioned many, many times in websites, newspapers and magazines. You know that you check emails after work. You might even feel a little guilty about it. But you still do it.
And it’s not just email that is taking you away from family time at home. One study four years ago found that one in three people would prefer to check things on their phone than to have sex. On top of this, a more recent study found that our sleep patterns are being disrupted by technology overload.
There is little doubt that technology is impacting on work-life balance. It is also affecting your productivity. It provides you with an illusion of working, but studies repeatedly show that when you work under stress you are less efficient. Not only that, research has shown that when you check your emails at home, it has a negative effect on the wellbeing of your family members. They appear to get “infected” with your stress from reading negative emails.
You need to get in control of your email and stop checking it after work.
There are three main reasons people need to stop checking emails after work. These are:
- It will REDUCE stress and anxiety
- It will INCREASE work productivity
- It will RAISE family enjoyment
