Your connection to the external world re

While being paid for working, the employer decides what is a tool and what is a distraction. As for "creeping socialism" I must disagree on definition, as socialism is a government doctrine, not a private sector issue. An employer seeking to controlthe environment within its confines is capitalism, or an extension of private sector property rights.

This would be considered as Socialism only by someone who:

Has no idea what socialism is, or
Likes to throw out incendiary terms regardless of relevance, or
Has no understanding of the rights of a corporate entity to determine what is in it's own best interests.

The question is prejudiced by the either/or options of socialism or corporate "desperation" or "despotism". I suspect that this question is posed in this forum as the poster has no phone, but their work Internet connection is not monitored.

I rarely answer mine anywhere and let the front desk or voicemail screen at work. At home I'm worse, I turn all the ringers off, refuse to have voice mail (my girlfriend and kid have VM boxes, mine just says "Thanks, you have been logged, I'll try to call back this evening." I have caller id call screening services and look at the caller ID in the morning and evening and return calls to people I want to then. It drives my kid and girlfriend nuts that I don't answer the phone, so if they are there, they do :)

IT made me this way. I used to not be like this. Even my pager has "secret codes" that the people that really need me the most use to get through, and I barely have enough work time for that. Anyone that works in IT, well, if you get to the point everyone wants you specifically to do their work then you quickly get an aversion to phones IME.

Sometimes I wish a little real socialism would creep into the workplace, but if you have enough bucks as a capitalist you can create your own private utopia with whatever systems you want to borrow from. :) hehehee I read that near New York there is a collective anarchist town called "New Acres" I believe and you can't own the land you live on. People flock to live there. H*ll, if it was near a geothermal spring I'd move there. It's evidentily based on the ideas of Thomas Paine, who was definately of the opinion of the least possible government being the one to choose.

Sorry fo the rant :) Yes, styles have\are changing.No, computers have not made it better, saved paper or decreased the work load IME. Yes, people have an almost insane desire to integrate them more and more and the phone as we know it, well it's days are numbered!

Here's the Libertarian in me, but ROI and long term roadmaps SHOULD NOT BE DIFFERENT THINGS! One of the reasons I love Libertarians is for saying that ALL the costs of running a business should be considered by that business. So, no government bailouts. You make stupid decisions for short term gains and screw up... tough. You pay for it. That is the way it should be. You spill oil-you pay the FULL cost. You run your company in the ground financially- you pay it back or work the rest of your life trying! Everyone would then look at things a little more in harmony with the real world instead of these stupid bail-outs and corporate forgiveness of individuals that ROI speaks to now.

There is a HUGE lack of personal responsibility in this country IMO and at the center is a sytem with both the Democrats and Republicans choosing programs that bail out everyone and makes it MORE attractive financially to be irresponsible and short term in the goal making process. So, when you start wondering why businesses make the decisions we do including phones IMO it's because we are no longer driven by natural, reasonable forces, but rather by a system that rewards errant behavior. ~

There may be a tendency in troubled economic times, for distractions to increase. Reduced staff with likely the same core workload - so people end up having to do more. Distractions just multiply, especially under pressure. So more contact would be the expected norm.

There is an upper limit to the productivity of a human being. As a developer, distractions just prevent you from doing your work effectively. So it isn't necessarily an issue for the company not to provide a phone, depending on your type of work - but this is separate from the issue of social contact. An employer can't prevent you from being called on your cell phone nor can they prevent you from taking a walk.

From a business perspective, there is a tradeoff between long-term goals and short-term course corrections. The sacrifices you make now may affect your long-term goals - but management is about prioritising. You look at the risks, the effects and weigh up how that improves your survival. If it was easy, no company would ever go out of business. So if the assessment is that the phone is an overhead and easy to re-establish, you might decide to cut it.

Only since relatively recently has the IT market become hard and been put under pressure. In the 90's technological boom, companies and managers had no real reason to question the way they were working as the market worked in their favour - long term plans, for many companies were not at the top of the priority lists it was more about making the most of the good situation, increasing the profits whilst sticking with the same routine. It worked for them.

Now the market has difficulties, the employers are not blaming or putting right their lack of insight, they are instead increasing the pressures on their staff and wanting more, thinking it will bail them out. Reducing phones for example, heightening targets, extending working hours, will not sort out the fact that many companies have not got solid foundations. They have tried to build a nice house quickly whilst the bricks were readily available, in a metaphorical sense reeping the profits and not questioning it, now times are harder and the foundations rocky. They prefer to blame and increasingly pressurise their employee's to the extent that the phone is a distraction. It is an excuse - blaming what is easily fixable or expendable. Being able to contact the outside world via phones, have a moan, discuss issues, taking a walk is what will help not continual pressure from mangers who cannot take responsibility for their own actions - or lack of them.

When companies and managers start to listen to their employees concerns, ideas and issues and act on them, rather than ignoring or firing the insightful motivated people who are the cogs of the company, they will see a change in the atmosphere, less distraction and probably an increase of profit and morale.
We live in a democratic society so why are we still putting up with bureacratic, undemocratic company structures?