The loo was once a time for quiet reflection while you spent a penny, but now taking your smartphone with you has become the norm. While it was perhaps inevitable that social media would infiltrate our most private moments, it might come as a surprise that some of us are taking our job dedication to a whole new level.
New research from Mind has found that more than one in seven of us check work emails while in the toilet. The online YouGov poll of 1,095 English and Welsh workers also showed that 38% of those who receive work emails say they often check them outside of the office.
Going to the toilet is not the only activity interrupted by work. Checking work emails before going to sleep is common, with nearly 24% of respondents saying that is part of their bedtime routine. Likewise, when the alarm clock trills in the morning, almost one in five of us look at office emails before we’ve even got out of bed.
With our mornings, evenings and even toilet time interrupted by emails, what are your tips for switching off and achieving a better work-life balance? Tweet us @GuardianCareers or comment below the line to share your thoughts.
Here’s what you’ve been saying so far on Twitter:
@GuardianCareers By not putting my work account on my personal phone, and not taking my work laptop home with me. -_-
— B. H. Tang (@catofalltrades) August 26, 2015
Oddly, by reading emails day and night - thus not waking up to 20 new emails in my inbox and corresponding stress. https://t.co/o6H232HzlF
— Kelsey Byers (@plantpollinator) August 26, 2015
@GuardianCareers I refuse to have work emails on my phone now. Too stressful.
— j (@MissJ_Bam) August 27, 2015
@GuardianCareers Find a job that doesn't feel like work? Just installed my work email client on my personal mobile. So er, don't do that.
— Jim Anthony (@jimxant) August 27, 2015
@guardiancareers I know that it's a terrible idea, but I increasingly find myself checking them in the office #worklifebalance
— Nick Travis (@NickTravis84) August 28, 2015
@GuardianCareers Strangely, as an unpaid intern I checked my emails all the time, but now I don't even have them on my phone.
— Rachel (@OpenMindMH) August 27, 2015
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