TORONTO – Wireless technology helps busy professionals balance their career and their personal lives, says a survey released Wednesday by Leger Marketing.
Sixty percent of respondents surveyed by Leger on behalf of Palm Canada consider themselves “always on” between family and work commitments and the same amount say that communication technology is key to balancing personal and professional commitments.
One wonders though what junior thinks as he’s dribbling down the soccer field while dad is thumbing away on his PDA.
More than half of Canadian professionals polled credit technologies such as cell phones and PDAs for keeping them connected at work, and one in five (20%) say they rely on an “all-in-one” device such as a smartphone to balance their social and professional lives.
And dad, or mom for that matter, may not even be working on their hand-held. According to the survey, they may be snacking on something they find more entertaining than their daughter’s dance recital or their dinner companion(s).
While 71% of those surveyed say that technology helps them get and stay ahead in their careers, it isn’t all about e-mail, according to the release. Almost half (45%) also use PDAs, cell phones and laptops to unwind in their leisure time. In fact, 44% of those surveyed use their mobile device to listen to MP3s, one in five (19%) are checking out videos, and 10% even admit to checking updates on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
“As on-the-go Canadians consume content in bite-size, easy-to-digest portions, mobile snacking is becoming more mainstream,” says Michael Moskowitz, vice-president, Americas International, Palm, in the release. “From news alerts to watching videos to sending e-mails, downloading information is becoming as common as downing a granola bar.”
Trends such as mobile snacking appear to be the result of working extended hours and adopting mobile lifestyles, adds the research. Working beyond the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday is not uncommon for Canadians; over a quarter (27%) surveyed admitted to working 10 hours a day or more.
Other morsels from the survey:
* 73 per cent admit emailing on a mobile device is a form of entertainment
* 33 per cent report using mobile technology for listening to the radio
* 76 per cent check e-mail outside their work day
* 28 per cent take Saturdays off but tend to work on Sundays
* 58 per cent check e-mail/voicemail before going to bed at night
* 37 per cent confess to doing work while attending a social or family engagement
* 27 per cent have responded to email during dinner
* 89 per cent agreed the easier the technology, the more likely they are to use it
* 52 per cent feel they can afford innovative, high-end communications technologies
* 24 per cent say that they are defined by the tech devices they use
The online survey was conducted for Palm Canada by Leger Marketing between April 13, 2007 and April 18, 2007, with a representative sample of 1,000 male and female professionals between the ages of 30 and 54 who are familiar with and use mobile technology. The survey is considered accurate within +/- 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
