This needs to become a human right. Fuck asshole coworkers who think they can monopolize your attention to fuck with you

My office building is a signal dead zone for some reason, and I have to walk all the way to the terrace just to get my 2FA push code.

Oh, yeah, you're in trouble for "stealing from the company" if your wife calls to tell you your kid is in the ER, but if the boss' wife called just to see how his day was going, he'd answer it.

As an ass man, what do you like to use your phone for?

As someone who has to deal with that device management software, good! If your work requires you to be available outside of normal hours, a) make sure you are paid for that and b) make them give you a corporate-owned device. If I could only deal with corporate-owned devices and fully ignore all BYOD I would.

Nope. My work phone and my personal phone are two different devices, and I am not logged into any work-related accounts on my personal phone or any personal accounts on my work phone. I don't even let my work phone onto my home wifi.

yeah. I had a place that gave a monthly stipend which is the only reason I own a smartphone. its a work phone and not my phone.

Wait a minute... Isn't banning phones from schools a good thing? I'm not trying to be difficult here, but aren't they a huge distraction from the learning experience?

I found that most mfa apps are not as proprietary as companies want to make you belief. My previous corp job wanted a specific one but copying the secret code into proton pass worked just fine.

Install grapheneOS on your phone, and their MFA app doesn't want to run anymore.

I use mine for my CGM. So yeah, that will go as far as them realizing they need to pay for extra equipment.

Yeah when I used to work in a workshop, phone stayed in your tool box except for smoko and lunch

2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing.

I am not at all convinced, and in fact this might be the first time I've heard anyone say low attention span piecemeal content does anything but rot your brain.

I thought this was as well known as "rubber duck debugging"?

That's... a completely different thing? Rubberducking is when you explain your problem out in words, which engages the speech production part of your brain which often helps you solve the problem by making you crystallize your thoughts.

2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing. Because your brain is still “up” but it’s switching to a brand new task which (in a very simplified fashion) is a quick reboot for our brains, it’s just enough to push everything out of working memory so when you pivot back to what you were doing, it’s with a fresh set of eyes.

you realize these idiots in the C-Suite are going to read this and think the solution is to just give people more tasks, right?

A growing number of employees can’t come to the phone right now as companies increasingly lock away devices or enforce strict workplace bans.

Major companies across all industries are grappling with smartphones in an effort to curb employee distractions, while also tightening protections for sensitive and confidential information. Last year, JPMorgan Chase's CEO, Jamie Dimon, called phones in meetings “disrespectful,” while other companies, such as Id.me, have gone one step further.

The digital identity verification company rolled out phone pouches for about 290 support employees more than three years ago to better protect sensitive client data, The Financial Times reports. The small, sealed bags lock devices inside and can only be opened at a magnetic unlocking station, similar to Yondr-style pouches used at concerts and comedy shows. Unlike traditional lockers, ID.me employees keep the pouches on hand during shifts, so they can still hear urgent calls, notifications or emergency alerts, employee Kamilah Muiruri told the outlet. Phones can also be used during scheduled breaks.

For Muiruri, the ban has helped her build better relationships with colleagues, while also improving her focus.

“It gets us to connect with each other,” Muiruri told the outlet. “I didn’t really know people in the office as I was focusing on the friends I have outside the office. Now, we are very close as a team . . . [and] very big on going out together.”

“When I first started . . . I wasn’t the best employee, constantly checking my phone,” she added.

Some workplaces are now requiring staff to store their phones in Yondr-style lockable pouches in an effort to reduce distractions and help employees stay more focused at work, despite research that suggests otherwise(AFP/Getty)

However, Adrian Chadi, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, says the evidence that phone bans improve productivity is not definitive. His researchsuggests they can help with simple, routine jobs by reducing distractions, but the impact is less clear in more complex work that involves creativity or problem-solving.

“It is very difficult for researchers to determine the effects of a ban compared to a situation without such a ban in the same organizational context,” Chadi told theFinancial Times. “It is also possible that employees will perceive the ban very negatively if using their mobile phone offers obvious advantages at work, [especially] as people have become accustomed to the constant availability of their mobile phones.”

Across the pond, the Royal Court Theatre, London, introduced phone pouches for its Writers’ Card program to cut distractions and boost creative focus, requiring playwrights to lock away their phones at the box office while they work and partake in talks and networking events.

“Writing is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do...particularly when you get to the hard part,” Will Young, the theater’s executive director, told The Financial Times. “When you get stuck, it’s easier to reach for a distraction.” 

Young added that the phone policy has been warmly accepted by “so many writers [who were] half-amused, half-ashamed” to do so.

“It’s only a small thing, [but] there is something about that commitment [that says] ‘I’m here to work,’” he said. 

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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said phones in meetings were “disrespectful” ((Alamy/PA))

Back stateside, Dimon made headlines in November when he enforced a strict “no smartphone” rule at JPMorgan Chase meetings. In shareholder message, he wrote: “People in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails. This has to stop. It’s disrespectful. It wastes time.”

“If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you're reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing. It’s disrespectful,” Dimon further told CNN.

Graham Dugoni, the founder and CEO of Yondr, told the outlet that its customers now span a wide range of sectors, including courts, childcare centers, government agencies, mining operations, political organizations and businesses seeking to protect intellectual property.

“The organizations coming to us have usually already tried the honor system,” he to the Financial Times. “What these environments share is the recognition that a phone policy on paper is not the same as a phone-free environment.”