Turn off your smart phone and enjoy a gadget-free Canada Day, experts advise

TORONTO – The world will still keep turning if you ignore a buzzing unread text or email.

That’s the message coming from the experts as we head into the Canada Day long weekend.

For Barbara Miller, however, that is easier said than done.

The Toronto lawyer will be in Montreal celebrating this weekend, but she says she can’t ignore her work while there.

“It’s kind of like an appendage,” she says of her Blackberry.

“I can’t live without it. But I promised myself I won’t look at it every ten seconds,” she says, clutching the blinking device even as she speaks.

It’s a challenge many people who work in an office environment face as they struggle to balance the demands of family, friends and career.

But compulsive use of a smart phone during time reserved for rest and relaxation is actually a recipe for burnout, according to Dr. Gordon Flett.

While the York University professor and Canada Research Chair can’t give any hard and fast rules for controlling smart phone use this Canada Day, he say it’s important that people try to take time for themselves.

“People really have to look at their values in terms of, do they really want to be someone like this?”

He says it’s important to be strict about when to disengage.

If more than two people you care about hint, or insist that you need to stop checking your email at dinner, it’s probably a sign that something needs to change, Flett suggests.

If you’re always thinking about the content of your inbox, if the phone feels like a magnet, you have a problem and it’s time to stop, he says.

Linda Allan, a Toronto-based etiquette expert, says there are times when responding to work emails is just plain inappropriate. Like when you’re having celebratory beers around the campfire this weekend.

“If we’ve had a little too much to drink because it is the weekend and family’s there and we’re enjoying ourselves, that’s not the time to respond. There’ll be typos and information missed.”

Allan says our electronic image is just as important as our professional or personal image, and that sending curt or incomplete emails only gives a negative impression and makes people look sloppy.

Not only that, compulsive use can have dangerous effects on personal relationships, both at work and at home.

Allan says a good way to stay balanced is to stick to prescribed times of the day to respond to emails.

“When people start responding to emails at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., or 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., it tells me two things. Either they’re out of control, or they don’t have any boundaries for themselves.”

Flett warns that anything that keeps the stress going will eventually take a toll somewhere.

“It could be physiologically, or it could put you in a state of emotional stress and exhaustion. And it makes people very cranky in the workplace, and when they’re interacting with others at home in terms of a spillover tendency.”

He referenced one study of women executives who were so overtaxed at work, that physiologically, it was like they hadn’t slept.

“You know, the bottom line is people need to learn, especially with a holiday weekend, to switch off and do things that’ll help them relax and positively connect with other people.”

Flett is taking his own advice this weekend. He is heading to the cottage where he plans to spend a Crackberry-free vacation. If only because there is no Internet access.