Recently, France has come under fire from the media because of a supposed law that prohibits workers from sending and receiving work communications after 6 pm, which further propagates the stereotype of the French never getting anything done. While there is not in fact a law, labor unions and large corporations have begun to implement measures to limit the amount of time that workers are spending on remote communication devices outside of the workplace. The Volkswagen Company in Germany has also taken similar action by shutting down its blackberry servers at the end of the workday, which stops employees from taking part in work communication. Though these might seem like a measure brought on out of a desire to work as little as possible, it has actually sprung from a desire to maintain the good health of employees. Let’s face it; it is difficult to get a decent amount of sleep or down time when your phone is ringing every thirty seconds with something work-related.

Transitions away from full-time accessibility to technology have become more and more common recently. A locally owned café in Vermont has banned the use of computers and tablets, a restaurant in Los Angeles has banned all use of cell phones and cameras, and there is a place in South Carolina that gives you a free dessert with your meal if you hand over your cell phone before your meal. All of these venues have seen an increase of customers.

With new forms of fast communication and technology being released all the time, one would think that technology would be playing a more visible role in everyday life, but instead the opposite seems to be happening. Instead, it seems as if the more technology people have, the more they want to get away from it, at least for a little while.

Written by Sarah Fornshell’15