UNWIRED
Why
many high-flying Indian executives are considering pruning their online lives,
and what are the most effective ways to get ‘unwired’
Three
years ago, N Ramakrishnan (name changed), 34, had an epiphany. Out for a stroll
with his wife in a village in Kerala, Ramakrishnan paused to have God’s own
drink: coconut water. When he was done with the first coconut, he was offered
another one, free, by the coconut seller. “The first one was small,” said the
coconut seller. This simple interaction got Ramakrishnan thinking. “I
discovered people are nice. Life is not always about deals. And there is joy in
simple things like smelling flowers and going to old temples,” he recalls.
And Ramakrishnan, a hedge fund manager, wasn’t finding the time for either. His life: deadlines, deals and 14 hours of drudgery every day. He wakes up with the larks and the Asian markets, tracks the tickers on business television channels through the day and hits the bed after scanning the US markets. Oh yes, and then, there are the emails, SMSes and reports on his computer.
The Kerala trip made him question his lifestyle. The 14-hour workdays were an occupational hazard; there was little he could do to change that. So, he focused on what he could do. He deactivated his Facebook account, on which he would spend 30 minutes every day. And Ramakrishnan, now, takes a 15-day gadget-free annual holiday to unwind, slowdown and disconnect from work. “When I return I am a fuller and better person…less grumpy and more humble. These holidays make me see through things,” he says.
Bye, Bye to Gadgets
Ramakrishnan is among a small but growing breed of corporate professionals — mostly senior professionals — who are choosing to take a break from the world of smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Tired of the cluttered, hyper-connected virtual life of social media, blogs, Twitter and emails, these professionals have found a new mantra: gadget-free time. And each one of them is going about it differently.
Some like K Ganesh of TutorVista, an online teaching company, have squeezed in monthly/bimonthly gadget-free retreats into their busy schedules. Others like Anurag Mehrotra of Ford India are looking at unplugging during weekends. Some have a “no gadget time” chalked in their everyday schedules. And it isn’t easy. In this hyper-networked world where so many things tempt you in so many different ways, “you have to be either saint or god to keep yourself in control. It requires enormous will power”, says Ganesh.
Only Some Can
Sure enough, cutting away isn’t something that everybody can practice. In fact, most corporate employees, especially whose phone bills are paid by their companies, cannot do this. In India, only a select few, the ones at the top of the organisational food chains, have that luxury. HDFC’s managing director Aditya Puri can afford not to carry a mobile phone and avoid emails and still remain firmly in his corner
office. In many Indian companies, a boss can have a “do-not-disturb-on-weekends” rule which must be res p e c t e d . But his und e rl i n g s must respond to e m a i l s even on Sundays.
Ganesh recalls one such Sunday. “I had sent an email to my CFO on a Sunday morning and he replied after three hours profusely apologising for the delay.” Reflecting back, Ganesh admits he took the apologies as a matter of fact. Clearly, hierarchies matter in India. Instinctively, bosses expect executives to be available 24x7 with little respect for their personal time.
This is also a cultural issue. Some MNCs, especially western, do show sensitivity and encourage “do-not-disturb-on-weekends-unless-urgent” culture. Mehrotra says at Ford they encourage staff to step out of office after a certain time and expect them to take minimal work home.
But most Indian firms approach it differently. The CEO of a leading Bangalorebased IT firm has been known to call for morning meetings with his A-team at 7:00 am. A clutch of mid-level executives ET Magazinespoke to said that they were often informally expected to work on weekends. Plus, the workday has been stretched by the fact that most industries have global offices, across time zones.
It’s in Our DNA
Slave-driving bosses, stiff deadlines and office culture are the obvious reasons for our hyper-connected lives. But is that all? Anjali Chabbria, a Mumbai based psychiatrist, offers another explanation. On a recent cruise, she found Indians madly swarming to the Wi-Fi zones as soon as the ship docked. “It was as if an addict needed his fix, as if the world would collapse without it,” she says. Culturally, Indians love to talk and they can pick up conversations with anyone, anywhere — in trains, planes malls. “When we get a piece of hardware [smartphone] that can help us talk, our inbuilt software just magnifies the effect,” says psychiatrist Harish Shetty.
Most Indians revel in their engagement with the virtual world. A recent global study by market research firm TNS on digital life reveals that half the respondents from India say the internet has improved their confidence as against just 12% in France and Germany. Further, it found that 39% of the internet population in India writes their own blogs as against just 14% in the US and the UK. “Internet can become addictive. Some of the most en- gaged are those people in markets where internet access is limited,” says Matthew Froggatt, chief development officer, TNS.
As if the cultural DNA wasn’t enough. Surging ambitions and the new-found attitude of keeping up with the Khannas aren’t helping either. “Indians today want to live life not 24x7 — but 48x7. They are in a rush and want to achieve success, status, money, everything — today. Now,” says Shetty.
Pulkit Sharma, a psychiatrist at VIMHANS, recalls two recent cases — a 26-year-old woman, employed as an engineer and a 46-year-old BPO head — both suffering from anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue and a range of other behavioural issues. Both were ambitious. And both became mental wrecks.
Not Just India
Globally, virtual addiction or internet abuse disorder (IAD) is getting lot of attention. Horror stories of IAD abound on the internet. There are stories about parents letting their children die as they played virtual games non-stop, of teens turning violent and killing their parents after their gadgets were taken away. A brain mapping study in China on Net addicts reveals that internet addiction affects the brain in a way similar to cocaine and alcohol addiction. And research by David Greenfield, author of Virtual Addiction, reveals that internet too can give a dopamine rush like the way a gambling does.
According to a study done by SecurEnvoy, an authentication firm, nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia) is rising with 66% of people surveyed saying they suffer from it. Another study reveals that 64% people sleep with their mobile near the bed. Almost 50% of the respondents said they check their device at least once during the night. Here’s something revealing — it takes 26 hours for an average person to report a lost wallet. But it takes only 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone.
The latest addition to the list is what many call Facebook Addiction Disorder, FAD (see The Social Sickness, pg 16-17).
Governments globally are starting to take note. China has recognised internet addiction as a health disorder and internet de-addiction camps have sprung up. The Korean government is funding treatment centres and is pushing for some kind of late-night web shutdown for the young.
Demon Seed
But it is still early days in India. The country today has the world’s third-largest internet user base of over 130 million. There are about 27 million smartphone users in urban India. But this is a small fraction of India’s large 1.2 billion population base. With half of Indians under 25 years — more comfortable with technology — expect the wiredup generation to grow in numbers. “In India, it is still a nascent love affair. First blush of what I think will be a very deep affair with technology and gadgets in India,” says Santosh Desai, head, Future Brands.
For good reasons, Indians are still discovering the joys of a connected world. Millions of Indians are just waking up to the upside of working in multiple time zones and the excitement of social media. For them smartphones, tablets etc are glamourous gadgets which open doors to freedom and salvation. From entertainment to connectivity, knowledge to networking — irrespective of their social class and economic status — these gadgets democratise access in a hierarchical society that few other things can. They are a passport to better work and life. But they can be a double-edged sword.
For many ambitious (and at times naïve) parents, laptop and internet often represent a tool that will prepare their children for a brighter future. Check out the brochures of most B-schools in the country. “A young sharply dressed guy with laptop in one hand and cellphone in another is what success looks like to them,” says Desai. There is lot of glamour and legitimacy attached to their use. The idea that they could have harmful downsides does not even cross their minds.
Five years back, Mukta Putambekar, deputy director, Muktangan Mitra, a counselling centre got her first taste of what internet abuse could do to people. A not-so-educated father came to her with a problematic 18-year-old. He had just found out that his son had missed his first year college exam.
At home the boy would sit for 12 hours at a stretch with his computer and his
parents thought he was busy with studies. Once they got wise — the boy was hooked to gaming — they withdrew internet access at home. But the Net-addicted son began going to cyber cafes and refused to listen to them. Seeing no recourse, they had brought the boy for counselling to her.
Sharma of VIMHANS says a decade back 15-20% of the cases they got had an issue related to the internet abuse. Today, it is 80%. Shetty too has seen a surge. If five years back he got one such case a month, today he gets two in a week. Seeing this growing menace, Putambekar has put together a five-week de-addiction programme. Chhabria says there is need to conduct workshops for companies to sensitise staff, especially managers.
Virtual Freedom
But this sensitisation will not be easy for four reasons. One, insensitive bosses and work places will continue to make things difficult for corporate executives who want to get unwired. Two, India’s geographical location will not help. Waking up early to chase Asia and sleeping late to connect with the US is something that many executives must learn to live with. Three, culturally Indians are social beings who love to connect, comment and express. For them getting hooked to the internet comes naturally. But disconnecting will be difficult. Four, Indians find it difficult to draw boundaries in life. Internet is making it even more difficult.
Shiv Visvanathan, a sociologist at Jindal Global University, foresees devastating impact of virtual addiction. College students, he says, spend a lot of their time building a fantasy world of second life and second community. With little policing in the virtual world, they spend hours on pornography and virtual gaming, ignoring their studies and relishing the freedom it affords. Amid this their connection with the real world is weakening. For many, pornography has replaced real-world girlfriends. While this is true in other nations as well but in they also have other physical world outlets — from sports to clubs — that keeps them connected. “I worry seriously. These kids will start living their adolescence when they grow up. And with terrible consequences,” he says.
The Unwired
How are those who have “unwired” themselves coping with life? “I often found myself reacting mechanically to emails without really thinking. My days are hectic. Yet I often felt the day wasn’t well spent,” says Ramakrishnan. Introspection and occasional unwiring has helped improve things.
Whenever TutorVista’s Ganesh is mulling over strategic issues he unplugs and hands over the phone to his secretary. “It improves my creative ability to think,” he says. Mumbai-based investment adviser Anurag Khetarpal says he tries to lose clients who do not respect his weekend-is-off philosophy and expects him to be on call 24x7. “People forget that gadgets are there to improve life not make it worse,” he says. He recently went to the US on a family holiday for a month and he did not access the internet at all. “I was on a holiday,” he says. People lose perspective. The ultimate reason why you are working hard those five days is to do what you really want to do over the weekends, he says.
It’s a perspective that companies and bosses could benefit from. But they will have to do it in a hurry: the clock is ticking. ::
And Ramakrishnan, a hedge fund manager, wasn’t finding the time for either. His life: deadlines, deals and 14 hours of drudgery every day. He wakes up with the larks and the Asian markets, tracks the tickers on business television channels through the day and hits the bed after scanning the US markets. Oh yes, and then, there are the emails, SMSes and reports on his computer.
The Kerala trip made him question his lifestyle. The 14-hour workdays were an occupational hazard; there was little he could do to change that. So, he focused on what he could do. He deactivated his Facebook account, on which he would spend 30 minutes every day. And Ramakrishnan, now, takes a 15-day gadget-free annual holiday to unwind, slowdown and disconnect from work. “When I return I am a fuller and better person…less grumpy and more humble. These holidays make me see through things,” he says.
Bye, Bye to Gadgets
Ramakrishnan is among a small but growing breed of corporate professionals — mostly senior professionals — who are choosing to take a break from the world of smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Tired of the cluttered, hyper-connected virtual life of social media, blogs, Twitter and emails, these professionals have found a new mantra: gadget-free time. And each one of them is going about it differently.
Some like K Ganesh of TutorVista, an online teaching company, have squeezed in monthly/bimonthly gadget-free retreats into their busy schedules. Others like Anurag Mehrotra of Ford India are looking at unplugging during weekends. Some have a “no gadget time” chalked in their everyday schedules. And it isn’t easy. In this hyper-networked world where so many things tempt you in so many different ways, “you have to be either saint or god to keep yourself in control. It requires enormous will power”, says Ganesh.
Only Some Can
Sure enough, cutting away isn’t something that everybody can practice. In fact, most corporate employees, especially whose phone bills are paid by their companies, cannot do this. In India, only a select few, the ones at the top of the organisational food chains, have that luxury. HDFC’s managing director Aditya Puri can afford not to carry a mobile phone and avoid emails and still remain firmly in his corner
office. In many Indian companies, a boss can have a “do-not-disturb-on-weekends” rule which must be res p e c t e d . But his und e rl i n g s must respond to e m a i l s even on Sundays.
Ganesh recalls one such Sunday. “I had sent an email to my CFO on a Sunday morning and he replied after three hours profusely apologising for the delay.” Reflecting back, Ganesh admits he took the apologies as a matter of fact. Clearly, hierarchies matter in India. Instinctively, bosses expect executives to be available 24x7 with little respect for their personal time.
This is also a cultural issue. Some MNCs, especially western, do show sensitivity and encourage “do-not-disturb-on-weekends-unless-urgent” culture. Mehrotra says at Ford they encourage staff to step out of office after a certain time and expect them to take minimal work home.
But most Indian firms approach it differently. The CEO of a leading Bangalorebased IT firm has been known to call for morning meetings with his A-team at 7:00 am. A clutch of mid-level executives ET Magazinespoke to said that they were often informally expected to work on weekends. Plus, the workday has been stretched by the fact that most industries have global offices, across time zones.
It’s in Our DNA
Slave-driving bosses, stiff deadlines and office culture are the obvious reasons for our hyper-connected lives. But is that all? Anjali Chabbria, a Mumbai based psychiatrist, offers another explanation. On a recent cruise, she found Indians madly swarming to the Wi-Fi zones as soon as the ship docked. “It was as if an addict needed his fix, as if the world would collapse without it,” she says. Culturally, Indians love to talk and they can pick up conversations with anyone, anywhere — in trains, planes malls. “When we get a piece of hardware [smartphone] that can help us talk, our inbuilt software just magnifies the effect,” says psychiatrist Harish Shetty.
Most Indians revel in their engagement with the virtual world. A recent global study by market research firm TNS on digital life reveals that half the respondents from India say the internet has improved their confidence as against just 12% in France and Germany. Further, it found that 39% of the internet population in India writes their own blogs as against just 14% in the US and the UK. “Internet can become addictive. Some of the most en- gaged are those people in markets where internet access is limited,” says Matthew Froggatt, chief development officer, TNS.
As if the cultural DNA wasn’t enough. Surging ambitions and the new-found attitude of keeping up with the Khannas aren’t helping either. “Indians today want to live life not 24x7 — but 48x7. They are in a rush and want to achieve success, status, money, everything — today. Now,” says Shetty.
Pulkit Sharma, a psychiatrist at VIMHANS, recalls two recent cases — a 26-year-old woman, employed as an engineer and a 46-year-old BPO head — both suffering from anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue and a range of other behavioural issues. Both were ambitious. And both became mental wrecks.
Not Just India
Globally, virtual addiction or internet abuse disorder (IAD) is getting lot of attention. Horror stories of IAD abound on the internet. There are stories about parents letting their children die as they played virtual games non-stop, of teens turning violent and killing their parents after their gadgets were taken away. A brain mapping study in China on Net addicts reveals that internet addiction affects the brain in a way similar to cocaine and alcohol addiction. And research by David Greenfield, author of Virtual Addiction, reveals that internet too can give a dopamine rush like the way a gambling does.
According to a study done by SecurEnvoy, an authentication firm, nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia) is rising with 66% of people surveyed saying they suffer from it. Another study reveals that 64% people sleep with their mobile near the bed. Almost 50% of the respondents said they check their device at least once during the night. Here’s something revealing — it takes 26 hours for an average person to report a lost wallet. But it takes only 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone.
The latest addition to the list is what many call Facebook Addiction Disorder, FAD (see The Social Sickness, pg 16-17).
Governments globally are starting to take note. China has recognised internet addiction as a health disorder and internet de-addiction camps have sprung up. The Korean government is funding treatment centres and is pushing for some kind of late-night web shutdown for the young.
Demon Seed
But it is still early days in India. The country today has the world’s third-largest internet user base of over 130 million. There are about 27 million smartphone users in urban India. But this is a small fraction of India’s large 1.2 billion population base. With half of Indians under 25 years — more comfortable with technology — expect the wiredup generation to grow in numbers. “In India, it is still a nascent love affair. First blush of what I think will be a very deep affair with technology and gadgets in India,” says Santosh Desai, head, Future Brands.
For good reasons, Indians are still discovering the joys of a connected world. Millions of Indians are just waking up to the upside of working in multiple time zones and the excitement of social media. For them smartphones, tablets etc are glamourous gadgets which open doors to freedom and salvation. From entertainment to connectivity, knowledge to networking — irrespective of their social class and economic status — these gadgets democratise access in a hierarchical society that few other things can. They are a passport to better work and life. But they can be a double-edged sword.
For many ambitious (and at times naïve) parents, laptop and internet often represent a tool that will prepare their children for a brighter future. Check out the brochures of most B-schools in the country. “A young sharply dressed guy with laptop in one hand and cellphone in another is what success looks like to them,” says Desai. There is lot of glamour and legitimacy attached to their use. The idea that they could have harmful downsides does not even cross their minds.
Five years back, Mukta Putambekar, deputy director, Muktangan Mitra, a counselling centre got her first taste of what internet abuse could do to people. A not-so-educated father came to her with a problematic 18-year-old. He had just found out that his son had missed his first year college exam.
At home the boy would sit for 12 hours at a stretch with his computer and his
parents thought he was busy with studies. Once they got wise — the boy was hooked to gaming — they withdrew internet access at home. But the Net-addicted son began going to cyber cafes and refused to listen to them. Seeing no recourse, they had brought the boy for counselling to her.
Sharma of VIMHANS says a decade back 15-20% of the cases they got had an issue related to the internet abuse. Today, it is 80%. Shetty too has seen a surge. If five years back he got one such case a month, today he gets two in a week. Seeing this growing menace, Putambekar has put together a five-week de-addiction programme. Chhabria says there is need to conduct workshops for companies to sensitise staff, especially managers.
Virtual Freedom
But this sensitisation will not be easy for four reasons. One, insensitive bosses and work places will continue to make things difficult for corporate executives who want to get unwired. Two, India’s geographical location will not help. Waking up early to chase Asia and sleeping late to connect with the US is something that many executives must learn to live with. Three, culturally Indians are social beings who love to connect, comment and express. For them getting hooked to the internet comes naturally. But disconnecting will be difficult. Four, Indians find it difficult to draw boundaries in life. Internet is making it even more difficult.
Shiv Visvanathan, a sociologist at Jindal Global University, foresees devastating impact of virtual addiction. College students, he says, spend a lot of their time building a fantasy world of second life and second community. With little policing in the virtual world, they spend hours on pornography and virtual gaming, ignoring their studies and relishing the freedom it affords. Amid this their connection with the real world is weakening. For many, pornography has replaced real-world girlfriends. While this is true in other nations as well but in they also have other physical world outlets — from sports to clubs — that keeps them connected. “I worry seriously. These kids will start living their adolescence when they grow up. And with terrible consequences,” he says.
The Unwired
How are those who have “unwired” themselves coping with life? “I often found myself reacting mechanically to emails without really thinking. My days are hectic. Yet I often felt the day wasn’t well spent,” says Ramakrishnan. Introspection and occasional unwiring has helped improve things.
Whenever TutorVista’s Ganesh is mulling over strategic issues he unplugs and hands over the phone to his secretary. “It improves my creative ability to think,” he says. Mumbai-based investment adviser Anurag Khetarpal says he tries to lose clients who do not respect his weekend-is-off philosophy and expects him to be on call 24x7. “People forget that gadgets are there to improve life not make it worse,” he says. He recently went to the US on a family holiday for a month and he did not access the internet at all. “I was on a holiday,” he says. People lose perspective. The ultimate reason why you are working hard those five days is to do what you really want to do over the weekends, he says.
It’s a perspective that companies and bosses could benefit from. But they will have to do it in a hurry: the clock is ticking. ::
Malini
Goyal SET121021
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