Thinking Traps - Part 10: The Online Trap

A business letter used to be answered within a week. This was the etiquette (if the term had existed) of business life about a generation ago, roughly thirty or forty years ago. If you had dealings with far-off countries, you'd sit down, draft a letter and then type it on airmail paper using a typewriter. This required some typing accuracy, as erasing mistakes would lead to a hole in the thin paper. Back then, it weighed twenty grams per square meter so the plane could carry more of it, for instance, to the United States of America.

So, you sent off the letter, and after just one or two weeks, it would arrive at its destination. The recipient would read it, ponder over it, and then write an aerogram back — within a week. The reply would then travel the same amount of time back to the original sender, arriving about a month after the conversation had started.

That was the pace people were used to. And there was time for living. And thinking. And it led to a thriving economy.

Today, we all probably write and respond to at least fifty emails a day. Add to that countless text messages on the smartphone. And the very savvy among us are also following each other on X and Instagram. Do you still know anyone who doesn't take their phone to the toilet? Do you know anyone who turns off their phone at night and doesn't keep it next to their bed?

You guessed it: Permanent availability has nothing to do with what's good for us. It's not necessary and it doesn't improve anything. Ironically, terms like Work-Life-Balance were coined in our time. In the past, with the slow pace of postal mail, this was a given.

What does this mean?

The good news is: Limiting your online time doesn't make you worse off today. Escape the worst trap of modern times and set your phone to silent and turn off your PC at night. Only those who truly recuperate overnight are capable and ready for action the next day with renewed joy. Therefore, encourage your surroundings (and yourself!) to enjoy life at an old-fashioned pace once again. Because a few hours offline is the real luxury. You'll be amazed at how much more efficient you'll become.