Week 4: Escape from the Office

Another reading this week that discusses the impact that 'cyberspace' has on our society. The idea that people can't escape the office is a little scary. I can only hope that one day I won't be swamped with emails and other jobs to perform on the internet outside the office. Although, when you are bombarded with all these extra tasks, is that what it means to be successful in your career these days?

When people use the internet and social networking for leisure, the lines a blurred when it suddenly becomes your job. For example I might've really enjoyed reading the story 'Frankenstein' if I knew it wasn't for my year 12 English class, thus, only creating additional work on top of simply reading.

This week’s reading, 'Function Creep: Communication technologies and anticipatory labour in the information workplace', by M, Gregg, suggests that the use of the internet gives the professional the option to work when they like and take stress off them in the actual workplace. The idea of anytime anywhere is definitely convenient and it is a good idea in terms of keeping the sanity in the office. But, how much is too much? There are definitely people who I know who go a little out of control with their work and it seems they are doing more work in unpaid, leisure hours then they are in the office. For example, my brother-in-law is a property evaluator and he's never in the office due to all his property viewings. He is then forced to write his evaluation reports in his own time. I guess to me, this just doesn't seem like the best system but it all has to be done sometime.