A slave to the blackberry
September 10th, 2009As technology develops, the average British day gets longer, with 37% of Brits admitting to being a slave to their phone. 1 in 5 BlackBerry and iPhone users claim they spend a minimum of 10 extra unpaid hours per week making calls, responding to emails and sorting work problems in the evenings and at the weekends.
With continuous technological advancements, the human need to stay connected is now easier than ever but more than a third of Brits claims they have become a slave to their phone; feeling lost without it and 23% sleep with their mobile beside their bed, according to a study by Rightmobilephone.co.uk.
A study of 1,226 British workers commissioned by the UK’s leading mobile phone price comparison website, has found that 1 in 3 admit to working out of hours on a weekly basis; replying to emails via their BlackBerry and making urgent calls and 1 in 5 claims to spend a minimum of 10 additional hours of unpaid work per week, in the evenings and weekends.
Despite the fact that 43% consider their BlackBerry to have made their lives less stressful and 28% prefer to stay connected with the office and their emails, almost 20% of British workers now feel pressurised to respond to client and colleague emails out of office hours and 35% claim to have had their evening or weekend ruined because of reading an email from an annoyed or demanding client.
www.Rightmobilephone.co.uk found that for 53% of people, their mobile phone is one of the first things they see in the morning. 24% of people check their emails via their BlackBerry before they leave for the office and 14% have already read and replied to emails before they even officially start their working day.
Speaking about the results, co-Managing Director of Rightmobilephone.co.uk, Neil McHugh said;
“Mobile phone technology is now so advanced that we are able to stay connected with friends, family and colleagues around the clock. The problems start when clients and management expect emails to be dealt with at the weekends and when the phone is going off throughout the night with various problems that need to be sorted.
“As long as expectations are set with clients, this technology can really make your working life easier; a day out of the office no longer has to mean a day out of the loop, people can now work remotely and keep up to date with all emails, thus preventing a stressful and unexpected start to the day.
“Family time is however extremely important and even though I fully understand the instant urge to check my emails in the morning, perhaps our loved ones should be the first people to get our attention!”
The study also revealed that 18% of people do not put their Out of Office on when they are off work as they know they will still be contactable via their mobile phone throughout the duration of their holiday. Unsurprisingly, 38% admit that their family members would prefer them to leave their BlackBerry device off when they are not at work and devote time to them.
LINK http://www.rightmobilephone.co.uk/
***ENDS***
For further information or to set up interviews with Neil McHugh or James Zielinski please contact Andy Barr, 10 Yetis PR Agency, [email protected], 01452 348211.
Notes to editors
Rightmobilephone.co.uk was launched in November 2007 to help consumers save time and money by providing a trusted comparison platform for customers to purchase from.
The site has become the UK’s most comprehensive and user friendly mobile phone comparison engine, with over 350,000 + mobile phone offers combined with user friendly consumer reviews, ratings and video.
Users can review and compare over 800 handsets with images, specifications and video with unique users reviews, opinions and ratings provided by handset owners and compare over 2000 + pay as you go offers and tariffs from all major networks.
